


12 Hours

by Asmicarus



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Doctor Adam, Domesticity, M/M, Mentions of injuries/ medical procedures, Mission Fic, Post-War, Solid David Bowie references, There's fluff too I promise!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-07-06 10:29:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 23,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15884220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asmicarus/pseuds/Asmicarus
Summary: When two vessels collide in a catastrophic manner, the Paladins of Voltron, with the assistance of Adam, only have twelve hours to rescue the casualties trapped inside the wreckage, and figure out what, or maybe even who, had caused the crash to happen.They find their courage, integrity, and teamwork are put to the test when their loved ones in are put in danger.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi Everyone!  
> Let me start by saying, I am totally new to this fandom, and am not a very good writer at all! I'm not super happy with how this turned out, but I had a good go at it, and even though it's not up to my usual standard, I really hope some of you are able to enjoy it regardless! : )  
> I'm sorry for any errors in spelling, punctuation, or grammar. I'll try to fix any that I see!
> 
> My Tumblr is under the same name as my author's name. I welcome absolutely everyone, no matter your ship preferences, opinions on my writing, or anything of the sort. If you want to come and say hello, I promise, I'm actually pretty chill! 
> 
> Voltron does not belong to me.  
> David Bowie's songs and lyrics do not belong to me. 
> 
> Enjoy!

_There's a starman waiting in the sky_  
He'd like to come and meet us  
But he thinks he'd blow our minds…

 

“Takashi…”

 

“Mm…”

 

_There’s a starman waiting in the sky_

_He told us not to blow it_

_‘cus he knows it’s all worthwhile…_

 

“Takashi.”

 

“Mm…”

 

“Takashi!”

 

The light shove at his arm from the other side of the bed served as a prompt to switch off their incessant alarm clock, and was certainly enough to tell Shiro that the day had well and truly begun. As he cracked open bleary eyes to be struck by the beam of sunlight shining through the split in the curtains, he was painstakingly reminded that he had never been an early bird. All Shiro’s years at the Galaxy Garrison had trained him to get up at the crack of dawn, but that didn’t mean that he hated mornings any less, especially now he had spent so much time away from the harsh military surroundings. When he finally found the strength to open his eyes fully, he leaned over to his bedside table to switch off the melody of David Bowie’s ‘Starman’. Despite his hatred of leaving the comfort of his own bed, the song always brought familiar connotations for Shiro. It was a pleasant tune that never failed to soothe his foul moods in the mornings, and as he wiped the sleep from his eyes, he felt the arm from the person beside him, tighten around his chest. Any irritation he felt immediately dissipated as he turned around to lay back down. This was the real reason he was so reluctant to get up.

“Morning.” Shiro smiled, and tucked a hand around the back of his pillow under his head, so he could lay comfortably on his side. Opposite him, Adam nuzzled in closer, a comfortable, lazy smile on his face. He settled himself just under Shiro’s chin, lips pressing into the hollow of his throat and his eyes closed contentedly. Adam’s glasses rested next to the alarm clock on the bedside table, and without the glasses, Shiro truly believed his eyes changed colour.    

“Morning, Starman.” Adam’s lips brushed against his neck, and Shiro sighed.

 

As he pulled Adam closer, savouring him, and still not quite believing he was here. He brushed the fingertips of his prosthetic down the expanse of Adam’s back, enjoying the feeling of his smooth, unblemished skin moving to thick knotted scar tissue that wound its way down his body like ivy down the walls of a magnificent building. A warm feeling swelled in Shiro’s chest. Every single day he thanked whoever was out there for how lucky he was. Their story, not just Shiro’s, but the combined tale of both Shiro and Adam, was truly remarkable after all, and was practically legend amongst the cadets and officers of the Garrison. Everyone knew their story.

 

After Voltron, following long and hard battles with many, many casualties, with the assistance of the Galaxy Garrison, and Blade of Marmora, had rid of the Galra presence on Earth, it was found that members of the Garrison had been joining an underground revolutionary alliance, because they knew of the corruption going on within the higher ranks of the Garrison. Plans to make deals with the Galran Empire, exchanges for control over sections of the galaxy, agreeing to trade in Voltron, and human trafficking were in abundance. Those who knew of the corruption allowed themselves to be shot down on the battlefield by the Galra to fake their own deaths in order to join the new resistance without the Garrison’s knowledge. It was dangerous, but they knew it was a necessary sacrifice for the sake of humanity. Many of those who tried to escape the Garrison by being shot down died during extraction, but those who survived managed to keep their resistance so secret, it was nicknamed the ‘Bletchley Brigade’, after the secret location of codebreakers during the second World War. They worked under the radar to bring down both the Galra, and the corruption in the Garrison, all while their names were on the ‘Wall of Honour’, and they were dead to those who knew them.

 

Adam was one of those pilots.  

 

Shiro would never forget the moment Voltron made contact with the Bletchley Brigade, only to meet them and see Adam, the Adam Winters he had been mourning for months, stood there alive and well, minus about seventy percent scarring. The scars themselves crept from his thighs all the way up his torso, before finally thinning out into a single line to cut diagonally across his face. All from his fighter going down to allow his escape… There had been many tears that day.

 

It had really been onwards and upwards from there. The Bletchley Brigade was re-initiated back into the Garrison, and Shiro and Adam were sneaking glances in corridors, brushing hands during supply checks and all. It was only a matter of time, and a very long talk, and taking it steady that had led them to this point of domestic bliss. Shiro got the feeling, after all they went through, they wouldn’t have had it any other way. Now with Earth finally recovering from the Galran attacks, Voltron had become the ‘Voltron Defence League’, based at the Galaxy Garrison should Earth need help, but still able to travel in space and help other planets, it was the perfect solution to keep Voltron together. It was a job Shiro loved. Not to mention one that meant he could come home to Adam almost every day.

 

After everything, he was so, so happy.

 

Shiro kissed the top of Adam’s head and squeezed him a little tighter.

“Have you got many patients to see today?”

“Not many. Everyone has been on the up. Luckily there hasn’t been anything too serious going on recently. No recons or Galran bomb defusing operations, my last patients were just some cadets mucking around.” Adam was the best doctor and Medical Evacuation pilot in the Garrison, and was often busy when things went wrong. There were nights he’d come home and be a dead man walking after twenty-four hour long surgeries, or being on shift for fourteen hours without a break. With all the new species they’d encountered, he’d been forced to do some intensive research, but his extensive knowledge on the treatment of alien species was part of what made him one of the best. Sometimes Shiro didn’t know how he did it. But whatever rough day they’ve been through, whether it was dealing with difficult patients or protecting people from hostiles, they always had each other to come home to.

 

Shiro could feel his eyes getting dangerously heavy again, the embrace of sleep threatening to consume him. The warmth of the bed and the smell of Adam’s skin were all too inviting. He was just about to drift off, when the shrill ringing of his communicator on the bedside table startled him back to the land of the living. He groaned as he leaned up on his elbow, and blindly reached for it with his new arm. That’s another thing he was still getting used to. Shiro found himself still having to adjust to his new arm, and its tendency to just hover there beside him. There had been one or two embarrassing times he’d walked through a door and accidently locked his arm on the other side. Adam chuckled at Shrio’s panicked fumbling, and leaned against him to pepper light kisses up his neck.

 

 Shiro pressed the receiver and laid back down, drawing nonsense patterns down Adam’s spine.  

“Captain Shirogane speaking.”

“Morning Shiro, it’s Keith.” At the sound of Keith’s voice, Shiro shifted to prop himself up against the headboard. Whenever Keith rang, it was always a sign that the Voltron Defence League had a mission.

“Go ahead, Keith.”

“I got a distress signal from the Blade of Marmora a few minutes ago. There’s been some sort of a collision between two ships on a planet not too far out from here. I’ll send co-ordinates to you now. There are people caught in the wreckage and a leak of some kind. No one can get close enough to safely get them out.” Shiro already knew what needed to be done, and by the sounds of it, Keith was already raring to go, no traces of sleep evident in his voice.

“Okay. I’ll suit up and be ready in five.” Shiro balanced his communicator between his ear and shoulder and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

“Be careful out there, Starman.” Shiro smiled fondly back at Adam, and took the device away from his ear to place a kiss to his lips.

“Oh, Shiro.” Keith’s voice came over the communicator again. “It’s probably a good idea to bring Adam along with you this time. We don’t know what kind of condition these people are in, and he’s the best qualified to deal with this kind of stuff.”

 

Shiro looked a little taken aback. Adam had never been on a Voltron mission before, but he could see where Keith was coming from. None of the paladins had proper medical training. It was certain none of them could call themselves doctors. The situation almost definitely had casualties. Shiro was about to agree on Adam’s behalf when Adam plucked the communicator from Shiro’s hand, bringing it to his ear.

“I’ll bring my kit. What exactly am I dealing with here though? There’s a million and one things I could bring, but they might not all be necessary.” Adam could practically _hear_ Keith shrug over the communicator, exactly the same way he did when he was fifteen.

“I really don’t know. But I’d think some oxygen and stuff.”

“Oxygen and _stuff_ … Keith, really?” Keith scoffed on the other end of the line.

“I don’t know! I’m not a doctor! Literally, the BOM gave me nothing to work with here, okay! I’ll see you in the Voltron hanger in five?”

“Okay. Make sure you eat breakfast.” Adam’s tone held one of authority, and Shiro immediately recognised it as the tone of his bedside manner. Firm bur fair, and not taking no for an answer. Certainly not from Keith. Keith huffed a chuckle on the other end of the line.

“Same to you, Doc. Bring good medic stuff.”

 

It didn’t take long for both Shiro and Adam to head out on their way. The Voltron hanger was close by to their quarters, and they were met by many salutes and greetings from awestruck cadets of ‘good morning Captain Shirogane’ and ‘good morning Doctor Winters’. Adam stopped by the infirmary on the way and picked up his medical supplies in the form of a backpack that looked as though it weighed almost as much as he did, and a flight suit with a clearly marked ‘Doctor’ written across his back, and the universal mark of the Red Cross. When they finally reached the hanger, the hustle and bustle of engineers flitted about them with the occasional salute angled in their direction.

 

Before them, still standing tall and proud as the day they were created, the five lions of Voltron were dormant, waiting for the journey. Making the sizable jump off the paw of the Blue Lion, Lance was the first to spot the pair and jog over, helmet held haphazardly under his arm as he waved with his other.

“Mornin’ guys!” Lance’s voice filled almost the entire hanger, and the smile on his face could practically be seen from space. “Heard you were joining us this morning, Adam. Finally getting you on board with the ol’ VDL. Knew Shiro would get you out here sooner or later!” Adam smiled as he swung his bag to the ground.

“He wishes! Are you and Keith still up for ours on Tuesday?” Lance waved a hand in dismissal, as if the very concept of not showing up for an opportunity to tease both Keith and Shiro at the same time was ludicrous.

“Are you kidding? We wouldn’t miss it!”  

 

Being back on Earth had done good things for Lance. Without the cabin fever of space eating away at the back of his brain, and his family around him, the whole team had noticed him open up a lot more in recent years. He had become happier in himself, still being able to help people in Voltron, and having a family to come back to on Earth was a balance they could all live with. He had grown too. He stood a little taller, his shoulders had broadened, but he had never once lost his charm. He was still the same old Lance, and yet somehow different in all the best ways.

 

Shiro looked up and around at the five lions.

“Where are the others?” he asked, noticing a distinct lack of their other friends. Lance gestured over his shoulder.

“Hunk and Pidge are just doing some last-minute checks before we head out, and Allura is packing up the Alfor with some extra equipment, and then we’ll be on our way.” Shiro nodded in affirmation, glad they were heading out soon. Across the hanger, Keith approached the small group, his own checklist in hand. Keith was another one that had changed since getting back to Earth. He had mellowed out since his return. Adam reckoned it was due to Lance’s influence, but Shiro thought the whole environment of Earth where he no longer had to constantly protect and defend himself had allowed him to finally show his more sensitive side. He was more compassionate, sympathetic, but still held that edge of burning temper.

“Red has the all clear to fly from Hunk and Pidge, so I’m all good to go. By the way, are we still on for yours on Tuesday? I’ve been wanting some of Adam’s cooking all week?” Keith flicked back his long hair, which he had grown out, to pull into a ponytail. Both Shiro and Lance looked moderately offended.

“Something wrong with the way I cook?” Lance raised an eyebrow, and gave Keith’s ponytail a tug. Keith couldn’t quite tell by the tug whether he’d hit a nerve or Lance was being playful.  

“No. It’s just…”

“The Alfor has the all clear.”

 

 _Thank God for Allura…_ Keith thought internally. Allura, regal as ever, made her way to the group.

“Morning Allura.” Shiro greeted.

“I’ve packed up a few extra supplies. We really didn’t get much information as to what we’re dealing with here. Really, Keith, couldn’t the Blade of Marmora given you _something_ more?” Keith held his hands up in surrender.

“I don’t know why everyone’s picking on me! It’s the Blade of Marmora who don’t like giving information away. Besides, it’s not as if the Alfor can’t handle the extra equipment.”

 

The Alfor was the newest ship accompanying Voltron on their missions. It stood beside the lions of Voltron as a white, distinctly Altean vessel. It was similar to the lions in size, and had incredible speed, agility, and firepower to match all the hard work and engineering Allura had put into creating it. Once the war with the Galra was over, more Bulmeran crystal was able to be harvested to build the ship that Allura herself engineered with Altean alchemy that matched her father’s. Allura even enlisted the help of Coran, who now worked alongside Sam Holt in the Galaxy Garrison, and even taught classes about alien culture. He was apparently a strong favourite amongst the students for his unique teaching methods, but also his genius in Altean technology. After painstaking work, Allura was able to name the vessel after her father, and pilot it alongside his great creation. Voltron found it helped greatly in battle and thanks to its more advanced technology, it had even saved them once or twice. With Allura now captaining the Alfor using Bulmeran energy, Lance was all too happy to return to the blue lion, who accepted him back with open arms. Keith had sat back in the seat of the red lion, and Shiro had returned as the paladin of the black lion. In the words of Coran, it had felt somewhat like they’d come full circle.

 

 

“Okay guys, we’re ready to go!” Pidge waved down from the mouth of the green lion, her longer hair at the awkward stage where it was falling down into her face.

“Ready to go to an alien planet with little to no info that is.” Hunk added from the mouth of yellow. Since returning to Earth, it was safe to say, the two of them had remained remarkably the same, in a comforting sort of way. Keith growled from the ground, his expression immensely displeased.

“I keep telling you it’s not my fault Kolivan won’t give me the time of day!” He shouted back up at them. They all slipped their helmets on.

“Flowers and chocolates usually work!” Pidge shouted back.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”

“I knew you were cheating on me with Kolivan!” Lance exclaimed, dramatically draping the back of his hand over his forehead. Shiro shook his head good naturedly, and his voice came through the intercom as they made their way to their respective lions and ships.

“Okay everyone, stay alert, fly straight, and-“

“kiss your sorry asses goodbye.”

“Not quite what I was going for, Lance.”

 

As far as planets went, the planet they had been given co-ordinates to wasn’t far out of Earth’s solar system. Only about a three hours journey in the lions, with the Alfor keeping quick pace beside them. Looking out the windows, the void of space whizzed past them, as they had seen so many times before, a comet or a piece of space debris passing every now and then. Each one of them keeping an eye on the other, and talking to pass the time. The closer they got to their destination, the more the discussion began to turn towards the mission and the task at hand.

“So, what exactly is this planet called again?” Hunk asked over the intercom, the yellow lion keeping a good safe distance behind the quicker lions, such as red and blue.

“Yeah, I’d like to run a diagnostic before we land, y’know, to see if we can breathe and stuff.” The sarcasm dripped from Pidge’s voice, and Keith tapped the control pad with a little more vigour than usual at the obvious jab, as he checked the data he’d been sent.

“Co-ordinates say it’s called Multhra. It was completely destroyed by the Galra in the early reign of the Empire, so the place is in a bad way.”

“Them and half the planets in the known universe.” Lance bristled, with a slightly sharp edge to his tone. The feelings of frustration sat uneasily under his skin. Earth was still recovering from the reign of the Galran Empire, and to see others still struggling due to the selfish actions of a few power hungry Galra boiled his blood. He had seen too many suffer at the hands of those with no compassion. Keith had always said his heart was too large for his own good. The sound of Pidge’s tapping met the team’s ears.   

“Okay, green diagnostics show the air is safe for us to breath, but Allura, can you run a ground control for landing?”

“Okay, just a tick... Alfor readings say ground is slightly rocky, but not unstable, so our landings should all be steady. Weather is also mild today.”

“Okay, copy that, we’re beginning our approach. Stay in formation.” Shiro gave his orders as he took in all the information, analysing it in his head piece by piece as the view of the planet Multhra appeared up ahead.

 

As they got closer and closer to breach the atmosphere, they observed that the surface of Multhra was a dusty brown, not dissimilar to the desert sands that could be found on Earth, however as they dropped in altitude, they found that the softness of the sand was accented with darker slabs of sharp rock jutting out from the planet’s surface. It was as if someone had thrown knives into the landscape and left them there. However, despite the overall impression that Multhra would be a sweltering desert planet, the temperature did not favour the sands, as it sat comfortably at neither hot or cold. Just right in the middle. Hunk scanned the ground, and found an open space without too many rocks for them to land, and as they did so, the force of the ships propelled sand every which way. As the paladins landed with the Alfor close by, they immediately exited their respective ships, stretching out their limbs after the long journey, and trying not to trip over in the soft terrain.

 

 Before them, dressed in full masks and fully suited up, the two Balde of Marmora operatives that had sent the distress call were there to greet them. Shiro stepped forward politely, and shook their hands, the Blades finally having learned this was the customary Earth greeting a while back. There had been one too many times Shiro had almost lost his other arm when he had gone to shake their hands, and they thought he was carrying a concealed weapon, but the issue was cleared up soon enough. Everyone watched as Shiro removed his helmet to exchange pleasantries and details about the mission. However, the longer the conversation went on, the more Keith became suspicious of the two operatives.

 

 Shiro was in the middle of looking over a Multhran map, when Keith stepped forward to butt into their tactical exchange.

“Good morning, brothers.” The two blades immediately looked up at being so suddenly addressed in Galran. Keith had put many hours of time and effort into learning the language of his mother so he could communicate properly with the blades, and simply be respected by the Galra he met. It was often he wasn’t taken as seriously due to his heritage and the fact he didn’t speak Galran. It was only a matter of time before Keith decided to learn the language. The two blades immediately recognised the signature Marmoran knife at his side.

“Good morning, brother.” It was the customary response, but Keith’s suspicions were only further aroused. A blade should always remove his mask when addressing one of his brothers. Keith switched back to English.

“What’s the matter? Is the sand bothering your eyes?” Pidge elbowed Keith in the ribs sharply as a gesture for him not to be rude. Keith grunted and gave her a little shove back. The two operatives seemed to finally understand Keith’s issue, and turned towards him fully.

“Trust us, brother, when you see what you are dealing with, you too will want a mask.”

 

With that, the two blades turned on their heel and led the way over some nearby rocks and sand dunes, leaving the paladins watch after them, a little taken aback. Lance was the first to break the silence.

“Okay, weird much?” Hunk swallowed audibly, the look on his face uneasy as he watched the spot on the dunes the blades had disappeared over.

“I’m just going to come out and say it, if the Blade of Marmora are wary with whatever is on the other side of those rocks, then I certainly am.” Even Pidge and Allura shared looks of trepidation.

“I must say the concept is… unsettling.” Allura chose her words carefully, as not to escalate and unsettle the situation any further. Shiro tried not to let the worry show on his face as he began to lead the group forward up and over the tricky rocks and sand dunes.

“Not exactly the friendliest bunch, are they?” Adam observed, concentrating hard to balance his heavy medical backpack on his shoulders while traversing the tricky rocks. The slippery sand in between wasn’t doing them any favours. Shiro offered him a hand over the wider crevices, and chuckled in response to the accuracy of his assumption.

“The Blades are a little intense, but if they’re concerned about something then so am I. It must be something to worry about…” There was no response. “Adam?” Shiro looked up, worried for a second that Adam had slipped or fallen. The last thing he wanted was anyone injured, especially their doctor. But when Shiro looked up to the top of the rock, Adam was just standing there, looking out and saying nothing. That was odd. Shiro made his way carefully over to him. He looked at his face behind the visor of his helmet. His eyes were wide and his mouth slightly agape in what seemed like an expression of shock.

“Hey, you oka-“ Then he looked out too.

 

Then he saw the destruction.

 

It was the site of the crash. The spaceships weren’t even recognisable as spaceships anymore. They were just huge piles of scrap metal and wires. All around the site there were Multhran people and law enforcement running around sectioning off the site, but the carnage was so visible it could probably be seen from miles away. The whole thing was an enormous mess of chaos. Floodlights were put up around it, so everyone could properly see. From under the wreckage, deep black fuel leaked out, creating puddles ready to ignite at any moment and set the whole thing ablaze, cables of livewire stuck out at every which angle, cargo the ships were carrying were scattered around like shrapnel. Smoke and flame rose from the top of the hideous pile, making the whole thing glow a deadly amber. Even from where they were standing, they could feel the heat coming off of it, despite the best efforts of the Multhran fire department to put it out. The seven of them could only stand there in shock, Allura with her hands over her mouth in horror, Lance trying to block the fumes with his sleeve, some just taking in the situation like Keith and Shiro, but all with one shared thought.

 

There were people alive inside that wreckage.

 

 

“Okay everyone, let’s assess the damage.” Shiro’s collectedness came as a blessing in these times, as the small group gathered themselves and made their way towards the scene. Getting closer only made the destruction seem more unbearable, and even more impossible than it seemed.

“I can’t believe there are still people alive in there.” Hunk said softly, eyes wide as he took it all in.

“It’s a good job you called me out, or they might not be for much longer.” Adam was already looking through protocols on his MedScan so he could set up. Hunk’s heart dropped a little when he saw him select the death protocol, but supposed he had to cover all bases. There was a real possibility that people weren’t going to make it out alive. It was then a Multhran police officer staggered over to them and practically fell over, gripping the front of Lance’s armour. He shook him as he spoke in hysterics. 

“Voltron! Thank goodness you’re here! We don’t know what to do! We-“ Lance tried to loosen the Multhran’s grip on his armour to calm him down.

“Hey, hey, you’re okay, you’re okay. I know you’re worried, but we can’t help you if we don’t know what’s up, alright?” Lance spoke gently, and sat the police officer on the floor. He crouched next to him.

 

The Multhra were strange looking by human standards. Most alien races were, but the Multhra were _particularly_ strange in the fact they shared far less humanoid qualities than the Alteans, or even the Galra. The only comparison for a Multhra that could be made to anything on Earth would be that of a mosquito. A walking, talking mosquito. Spindly, with long limbs, with large, bulbous eyes. Their bodies were a brownish colour to match their surroundings, as many species’ markings did.

 

The police officer took a few deep breaths and Lance, Shiro, Adam and Allura crouched around him to see if they could gather information. Keith spoke to the Blades, while Hunk and Pidge took some crude readings of the temperature of the crash site and looked for a place to set up.

“Okay sir, can you tell us what you know about the incident?” Allura began, she was almost motherly in her approach. The police officer swallowed a tried to control his breathing.  

“Early this morning, these two vessels crashed, one coming in to land, and one taking off, but something obviously went wrong because this whole trauma happened.” The policeman placed his head in one of his small hands.

“It’s vital to know for medical and evacuation purposes if you could tell us who was on board?” Adam asked, placing a hand on the officer’s shoulder. The officer’s face stiffened in obvious distress, and he burst into tears.

“Children. There were children on board one of the ships.” Everyone’s blood ran cold in their veins, and they each exchanged a look of concern amongst themselves. Allura patted the man’s shoulder.

“Thank you, sir, you’ve been of great help to us. Please rest, you’ve worked tirelessly. We can take over from here.” They stood up and Adam immediately began typing into his MedScan. He distanced himself from the officer so he couldn’t hear, as not to distress him further.

“If there are children in that wreckage, it makes everything more complicated.” Shiro hummed, the lines of his face tense with worry. Lance looked over to where Hunk and Pidge were setting up a tech tent to act as their temporary base on the planet so they could stay close to the site as well as monitor everything all from one place.  

“Everything will go far smoother once Hunk and Pidge are able to get good readings on whatever is going on in there. I’ll help them set up.” Lance ran off in the direction of the half-constructed tent, Allura quickly going after him.

“I’ll assist.” Adam turned to Shiro.

“I’m getting a medical tent set up as soon as possible as well, so once we get those kids out I can treat them immediately.” Shiro lifted Adam’s medical pack from the floor to carry over to the spot he would set up.

“I’ll give you a hand.”

 

It didn’t take long to get everything up and running, everything that was used on these missions was designed for maximum efficiency, but with the knowledge of the gravity of the situation, every second felt like an hour. The team gathered in the mouth of the tech tent, and it was a sight to behold. It seemed all the extra equipment Allura had packed aboard the Alfor had been well worth the effort of lugging it all aboard. Pidge sat crouched over the monitors, the glare reflecting off her glasses as she typed away. On the floor surrounding her, six small robots sat dormant on the dusty ground. At first glance, they didn’t seem as advanced as a lot of the robots they had seen over the years. They had caterpillar tracks, much like an old tank, and a scanner mounted on a turret. All in all, they didn’t look very cutting edge or helpful, but the team had also learned over the years not to question Pidge for all her genius. It seemed whatever these robots were, they were not quite ready yet. Beside her, Hunk was also sat over a screen typing away.

 

 

“What can you tell us?” Lance urged, and by the indication of Hunk’s face, which was usually a good indicator in itself, it wasn’t anything they wanted to hear.   

“Well, I’m getting some seriously dodgy readings off this thing.” Keith leaned against the back of Hunk’s chair to look over his shoulder at his screen. As usual, it didn’t mean much to him.

“What is it, like the fuel?”

“No. It’s the air. There’s some sort of gas coming off it. I’m going to try and identify it.” Shiro let out a heavy sigh.

“Gas isn’t good. That means there could be a leak from within the wreck.” Hunk stiffened.

“Worse. Oh, it’s so much worse. From the look of the composition, the gas is a Mortis Oxide.” Pidge’s head snapped up so fast, her desk rattled.

“No way.”

“Yes way.”

“Guys, what does that mean?” Lance pressed.

“It means we have about twelve hours to get those kids out of there before the air becomes too toxic for us to breath.”

 

“Twelve hours?! For an evacuation? That’s seriously pushing it.” Keith’s feelings of concern were not unwarranted. In a situation in which the lions or the Alfor were of very little help, it would usually take a sizable amount of time to figure out how to approach this situation, especially in a wreckage so big and so fragile.

“Where do we even start?” Lance asked, overwhelmed and a little disheartened.

“Well actually, I have an idea.” Pidge stood from her spot crouched over a monitor. In her hand, she held a small control panel. She looked down to flick the switch to turn it on, and on the floor, the six robots around her flickered to life, their bodywork glowing her signature green.

“These are a new concept I’ve been working on. They’re search and rescue bots, and to a degree they’re fairly self-sufficient.” Allura looked down at them.

“How do they work?”

“Well, amongst them, they have the ability to go into environments, and give me live feedback of what they see, and build a map of the terrain and the stability of the area. What’s even better is they can sense each other, so they know which parts of the area the other bots have already explored, so there’s no overlap. We can send them into the wreckage to find the exact location of all the children.” Allura clapped her hands together in delight.

“Pidge, they’re fantastic!” Shiro looked down at them, and gestured towards the one closest to him.

“What happens if I destroy one? Will the map be incomplete?” Pidge looked down to press a few buttons on the panel, the robot Shiro specified powered down. All of the bots around it bleeped in quick succession, almost as if they were conversing with one another before illuminating back to a constant green.  

“Because they have a certain degree of decision making, they have an algorithm that determines who is in the best position to take over searching the ground the destroyed one had lost. They keep going until all of them are destroyed.” 

 

Shiro knelt down to examine the robots more closely, and gave a firm nod. It was a truly genius concept.

“They’re great, Pidge. When will they be ready to go in?” Pidge tapped one more button on her handheld, and on her monitor, six different cameras and grid maps flickered to life.

“Right now. Keith, Lance, Allura, you take them and find holes in the crash site. Set them down inside. We’re going to stay here to keep an eye out for the kids and any unstable ground we come across.” Keith wasted no time in kneeling to heave two of the robots under his arms, Allura and Lance took the others.  

“I hope this works.” Lance adds, as they head off towards the crash site to plant the robots at the scarce openings in the wreck, hoping they can get through the little nooks and crannies to get a clear map of the terrain they’re dealing with. Pidge and Hunk set back down in their chairs, watching the cameras and grids intently for when the bots began to work. As Lance, Allura, and Keith got closer, they could feel the heat rising off the metal of the debris. Each of them set the robots on the ground, giving a thumbs up to the camera on the turret as a signal it was okay to activate, and watched as the bots ever so slowly crawled their way into the cracks of the wreckage. Disappearing into the chaos.

 

Back at the tent, Pidge was watching her monitors intently, around her, the cameras of the robots were displaying images of the inside of the wreck, while the sensors were building a three-dimensional map of the area on the grids.

“How’s it looking?” Shiro asked, almost afraid he was going to interrupt her train of thought.

“Okay, but not as well as I would have hoped. Hunk can you get me a reading on the MO gas levels?” Next to her, Hunk looked up at a dial in the corner of his screen, the little red needle teetering back and forth ever so slightly.

“Enough to screw up your sensors.” Pidge growled a little. She cursed silently that gas was something she should have thought about when she designed the bots, but she had never expected to use them so soon. She didn’t want to panic anyone, but really, she was sending out prototypes. But, she reasoned, something was certainly better than nothing.

 

 Shiro and Adam stood back and watched intently. The cameras were picking up the decimated interiors of ships. Seats, control pads, floor panels, all completely destroyed in the crash and now sat torn to shreds. It was about ten minutes of nothing before they finally had a hit.

“Wait, stop!” Adam leaned forward over Pidge’s shoulder, pointing accusingly at her screen. “Bot six, bring me up its readings please.” Hunk brought up the hologram. Adam glanced over it not a minute. Something was giving out carbon dioxide in recognisable amounts, and Adam would know the rhythm of a heartbeat anywhere.  

“There’s someone behind that panel of metal, and by the looks of these readings, they’re Galra. Move carefully, Pidge.” Pidge took over control of the bot manually, lest it knock anything over and cause more damage. She ever so carefully manoeuvred it around the piece of metal it was stuck behind. Edging more and more until it was safely around. Pidge spun the turret of the camera, and gasped when she saw the image.

 

Adam’s readings were spot on. There, nestled in the scrap metal, curled into a tight ball, and covered in a thick layer of engine oil, was a Galran child looking worse for wear. Her eyes were closed and face contorted in pain. She had curled in on herself, a common Galran self- defence instinct, and seemed largely unaware of her surroundings. Her purple fur had been matted not only by the oil, but also by the blood seeping from a large open wound on her head.

“Oh no.” Pidge said in a tone barely above a whisper.

“That poor kid.” Hunk could barely look at the screen. It was common knowledge he loved kids, and seeing any child in pain hit him hard. Images of his small cousins and nieces and nephews flashed before his mind as he looked at the Galran child, and he felt a sad ache in his heart.  

“Pidge, is there a way I can speak to her?” Adam looked down at the control panel for a communications line. Pidge had to take a minute to shake the shock of the child’s injuries out of her system.   
“Yeah, the bots have intercom. Press this button here and she can hear you.” Adam reached forward to hold down the button. He spoke very slowly and gently, aware that the child may not be able to hear him all that well.

 

 

“Hello there. My name is Doctor Winters, can you hear me?” And just like that, in the dark of the background, a pair of yellow eyes cracked open amongst the sea of grey. They were like two little spotlights, as if someone had shined a torch on the eyes of a cat.

“Y- yeah.” The response was weak, but there nonetheless. Adam continued to be clear and concise with his words so the child could understand him, even through the pain.

“Okay, you’re being very brave for me. My little robot is right ahead of you, and I know you have a nasty cut on your head, and it must hurt a lot, but I’m here with Voltron, so we’re going to do everything we can to get you out, alright?” The child turned their head, and hissed reflexively at the movement. The large yellow eyes belonged to that of a little girl. Adam inputted more data into his MedScan. The little Galran girl’s eyes roamed around, struggling to focus, until they finally landed on the robot.

“Voltron is here?” she asked slowly.

“Yes, and they’re working very hard to get you out.” Around Adam, Shiro, Pidge and Hunk looked on, and felt not only an immense pressure, but also a fierce sense of determination rise within them. The girl continued to stare at the robot blankly, seemingly only in half awareness.

“Okay. Voltron is a lot smaller than I thought.” Adam chuckled in an attempt to keep the situation light.

“The proper Voltron is a little bigger! Can you tell me you name, sweetheart?”

“Keavor.”

“Keavor, if you can, can you remember who was on the ship when it crashed?”

 

Keavor paused for a second as she thought, blinking slowly. Adam added ‘suspected concussion’ to his diagnosis list on the MedScan, which he had continuously open next to him. He could almost input results without even looking.

“My friends were with me, and our governess, with our older sister with her new baby.” Adam exhaled quickly in a short gasp, and momentarily cut off his connection to Keavor. Pidge and Hunk immediately knew their time was even shorter. Pidge was biting at her nails anxiously while Hunk tapped his foot to expend some of his nervous energy. Adam internally feared the worst.

“Okay everyone, if we had twelve hours now, we don’t anymore. If a baby is still alive in that wreck, we don’t have that kind of time.” Pidge nodded with urgency, and Hunk checked the toxicity levels again, noticing the needle had already begun to creep up. Adam held down the button to reopen the communications line.

“Thank you, Keavor. We’re going to try and get you all out now, so my robot is going to go and find your friends. Do you think you can sit really still for me?” Keavor closed her eyes again, whether it was in pain or resignation, they couldn’t tell.

“I’ll try.”

 

As the line was disconnected, Pidge began to manoeuver the bot away, but not before they heard Keavor let out the tiniest of sobs. Hunk’s heart visibly broke, but he steeled himself. He knew the only way he would end Keavor’s suffering was to help her.

“I’ll keep an eye on the toxicity levels and try and trace a source. Pidge and Adam, you keep trying to find the other kids.” Hunk said, as he opened a new programme on his computer targeted on source finding for the gas.  

“I want to find the baby.” Adam added, focused on the monitors, and keeping an eye out for any more signs of life. Pidge leaned over the three-dimensional map and plotted a point where they found Keavor.

 

Returning from the crash site, Keith, Lance and Allura came back into the tent, eager to know if the robots had yielded results.  

“Any luck?” Lance asked.

“We found one of the kids alive. She has a pretty serious head wound, but she was able to tell us that her friends were on board along with their governess, their older sister and a baby.” Shiro explained in a level-headed manner, having watched the whole encounter with Keavor play out from afar while he mentally went through his options and the safest way to evacuate.

“A baby?” Allura asked. The pure thought of a baby being exposed to Mortis Oxide turned her stomach.

“Hey, how far into the wreck is this kid? Can’t one of us go in and pull her out?” Keith pointed at Keavor’s point on the 3D map. “It doesn’t look too far in.” Pidge shook her head.

“It doesn’t look far in, but the terrain is too unstable to support you. We need to establish all the casualties’ positions before we go in guns blazing.” Each of them began to think individually. Lance’s foot tapped against a nearby rock as he thought, arms folded over his chest.

“Can’t we get the lions to lift the metal from the top?” he asked, now miming the lifting action as he explained it.

“Not when we don’t know where the gas leak is coming from. It could cause it to leak faster. I’m running an analysis now, but it’s going to take a little while.” Hunk pursed his lips tightly in thought, watching his source finding analysis tick away on his computer.

 

Shiro sighed and uncrossed his arms. Of all his time in space, he knew that sometimes the best course of action was no action. Being too eager could put people’s lives at risk.  

“Okay, until Hunk and Pidge have figured out where everyone is in the wreck and the exact terrain of what we’re dealing with, I’m sure we have other things to do.” The general sense of resignation did nothing to boost morale, but there was nothing that could be done. Keith began to sense the low atmosphere and brought up a hologram on his suit’s communicator.

“Shiro’s right. There are other things we can do to help, even if it isn’t evacuating the casualties. I spoke to the Blade of Marmora, and they told me that these two ships came from different agencies, one called ‘Multhran Movers’ and the other called ‘Tikker’s Transport’. The pilot of the Transporter, which had the kids on board, managed the leap from the cockpit before the crash, and is in police custody. Lance, want to interview her with me?” Lance nodded as Keith sent him the data via his communicator.

“Whatever story she has to tell should be interesting.” Keith looked back up at the hologram, scrolling down a few pages.

“The other person that needs interviewing is the owner of Multhran Movers. He’s currently in custody as well, and not too happy about it if what the Blades have told me is true.” Shiro and Allura nodded to one another as indication of their cooperation.

 

  

“Okay, can you send over the information?” Allura opened her own communicator to receive, Shiro following soon after. They immediately checked over everything as soon as they got it, anything they could find out before meeting a suspect was valuable.

“No problem. Pidge, Hunk, Adam, update us if there’s any changes.” Keith received the thumbs up from Pidge and some affirming hums from Adam and Hunk as they continued on with their tasks. The information on the ‘Multhran Movers’ and ‘Tikker’s Travellers’ suspects appeared on the transmitters. Shiro reminded them once again that time was of the essence before he and Allura headed off towards the Multhran police carrier, and towards their suspected person of interest.

 

Upon coming into contact with Multhrans, it seemed the Multhran people, as a whole, looked remarkably alike in base characteristics… although it would have probably been extremely rude to say so. The markings on their brown, speckled hides were all slightly different variations of splotches, the colours of their bulging eyes varied here and there from emerald greens to shocking pinks. But one thing was for certain. They certainly picked the biggest, most intimidating Multhrans for their police officers. The two Multhrans guarding the entrance to the police carrier were the biggest Multhrans Allura and Shiro had ever seen in their, granted, limited experience. Their height towered over even Shiro, and they looked like they could snap both of them in half like pathetic twigs. As they approached the temporary police carrier, the two of them could only hope their reputation as the paladins of Voltron would precede them. They stopped before the two officers, and looked up at them. Allura cleared her throat and tried to sound as authoritative as possible. If she was nervous, she didn’t give it away. Shiro supposed it was one of Allura’s strengths, what with her dealing with diplomats and foreign royals frequently.

“Officers, I am Princess Allura of Altea, and this is my colleague, Captain Shirogane, we are here to see the owner of the Multhran Movers vessel. We understand he is in your custody?” It was only by knowing Allura for so long that Shiro could tell she was nervous by the way she used their full titles. He always felt more official when people called him ‘Captain Shirogane’.

 

The two Multhran police officers glared down at them, exchanged a look to each other, before simply stepping aside, and saying in a voice that was higher pitched higher than that of a piccolo.

“Second door to your right.” …Needless to say, it threw Allura and Shiro off a little. Someone so imposing did not have the voice to match, but nevertheless, they nodded a thanks in their direction and stepped up and into the carrier.

 

The inside of the trailer-like Police carrier, was not unlike a jail. It was washed an unwelcoming grey on the inside, with cold walls and thick doors, with only a single hatch that acted as both a way to deliver food, and a window to the outside world. The trailer was small, so Allura and Shiro counted two doors down on the right, and there was a label stuck on the front.

 

_Octavius Krill_

 

“Octavius Krill.” Shiro read aloud. Allura checked it against the name Keith had sent them.

“This is him.” With her confirmation, Shiro operated the one way locking system, and pulled the door open, neither of them knowing what to expect on the other side.

“Mr. Krill, there are some ques-“

“At last! I’ve needed to get this whole thing cleared up. I need to go free as soon as possible.” The moment he stepped in, a figure was already in his face and talking so loudly the sound echoed off the walls. Shiro held up a hand to prevent the Multhran from advancing any further towards him.

“Okay sir, just sit down so we can ask you some questions.” The figure, which could only be Mr. Krill, seemed slightly agitated as he plopped himself down on the very basic chair on the other side of the room. In fact, the entire cell was very basic, which was to be expected of a police holding unit. Mr. Krill himself looked as all Multhrans did, with long spindly limbs and large buggy eyes, but his hide shifted in such a way that it gave the appearance of thick, brown Italian leather as it moved in the dim light of the cell. The kind you would get on an expensive pair of shoes, or on the seats of a high-quality car. His amber eyes stared back at Shiro and Allura with no pupil, a fact which was a little unsettling, but was, once again, something he could not help. Mr. Krill’s voice was uniquely situated as though he spoke almost entirely through his nose in a pinched kind of manner.

“Go ahead with your questions. This entire disaster is terrible for my company and everyone involved.” Shiro and Allura pulled up a pair of chairs.

 

“Mr. Krill, I understand that you’re the owner of the Multhran Movers vessel that was involved in the accident this morning?” Allura opened up a Dictaphone on her arm communicator and pressed ‘record’. The software Pidge had installed immediately put the recording into a transcript that they could use as evidence for later purposes if it came to it. All in all, it was a very handy device. Mr. Krill heaved a long and heavy sigh.

“That’s right. The moving vessel was mine. I never expected such an awful crash to happen.” Mr. Krill began to jitter in his seat as the crash was brought to the forefront of his mind.

“Let’s go back to the beginning. Was everything okay this morning when you sent the ship on its way?” Shiro asked, resting his elbows on his knees, and folding his hands between them. Krill nodded eagerly.

“Yes. I’d just made the final checks on the ship, and everything was in perfect working order. As a company, we’re required to do safety checks on cargo and auto pilot before the ship goes out, both of which I did before I sent it on its way.” Allura looked up from the Dictaphone transcript.

“Autopilot?” Krill noticed Allura’s look of confusion, and dug into his pocket, rummaging around for a minute before handing her a scrap of paper. Allura looked over it carefully as Krill explained.

“Our cargo vessels all fly on autopilot. It saves time and money.” Shiro leaned over to study the paper in Allura’s hand.

“Speaking of cargo, what exactly was in that ship that could now be spilling Mortis Oxide all over the crash zone?” He glanced back at Krill with suspicion, but Krill didn’t miss a beat before giving his answer.

“Generator fuel rods. Ever since the Galran empire took over, they placed tariffs on the trade of the fuel rods. Since the Empire fell, they’ve been in high demand. The next planet over order in bulk, so I was sending them out today. Thing is, they can be highly toxic.”

“Yes, we gathered that.” Allura didn’t even look up from the paper as she surveyed all the information. “My question is, how could this crash have happened if you were so careful with the autopilot? Something must have gone wrong.” Krill pulled his chair forward a few shunts, the scraping of the legs making Shiro and Allura wince a little.

“You see, to leave the runway, the ship must send a signal to the control tower to let them know they’re leaving or coming in to land. This signal has to be sent manually either by the pilot, or by a space traffic controller on behalf of an autopilot ship. I triggered the signal on behalf of the Multhran Movers ship exactly at zero six hundred hours, after I received the go ahead from the Tikker Traveller ship, which is proper protocol. On my end, everything was okay to take off… next thing I knew… Bam.”

 

Allura and Shiro were listening intently, leaning forwards in their chairs, eyes fixed as Krill told his end of the story. The two of them visualising the moments leading up to the crash in their mind’s eye.

“So, if you sent the signal, we need to find out if Tikker also sent the signal manually. If there was some sort of error and you didn’t receive the correct signal, it would explain why you were told to launch at the wrong time.” Shiro conferred with Allura, and she closed her Dictaphone.

“Thank you for speaking to us, Mr. Krill. After we sort this mess, you should be free to go.” Mr Krill gave his best attempt at a smile, but with his awkwardly stiff face shape it came out as more of a baring of his pointed teeth. Allura and Shiro appreciated the gesture nonetheless.

“Thank you, Paladins. I hope the matter is resolved soon.” Shiro and Allura left the gloomy cell briskly, thanking the security guards as they left, eager to get back to the tech tent to tell of their findings. They shielded their eyes from the sand being blown around as they walked back.

“We need to find out what Keith and Lance picked up later.” Shiro pulled back the flap of the tent, and stepped aside for Allura to walk through.

“Excellent. We’ll compare notes.”

 

Shiro followed in after her, but the minute they entered, the atmosphere in the tent changed. There was thick tension in the air, like treading on eggshells. The only sounds around them were the bleeping of the monitors and the occasional flashing of a screen. The first thing that truly put Shiro on edge was Adam’s face. He was intently focused on the (now multiple) MedScans in front of him, each screen labelled with a different name, and a different list of conditions. Pidge and Hunk were also so focused on their tasks, Allura and Shiro doubted they even noticed they had come in.

“How is everything going?” Allura took a seat next to Pidge, who rubbed at her eyes under her glasses.

“We’ve located all the casualties. It was worth losing two of my bots.” Shiro could feel the morale dropping by the second. There was obviously a catch, but he was proud of the work the team had done.

“That’s great, guys. Good work.” Adam glanced sideways from his screens upon screens of diagnosis’ and possible medical treatments. He even had a research page on Mortis Oxide up, and his thesis: ‘The Treatment of Alien Species’ open to the Galra section.

“There are four confirmed dead, but there are eight still alive, including the baby, the governess, and several of the children, and thanks to Pidge and Hunk we know exactly where they are, and exactly what the toxicity levels are like around them.” Allura looked over to Adam. Her question lingered in the air like the toxicity of the gas.

“… the mother of the child?” Adam could only shake his head.

 

“Thing is, from what I can gather, the MO is in canisters, so it’s dispersed pretty evenly around the crash site. We can’t go tearing everything apart or we’ll risk making it spread faster and killing us as well as our remaining casualties. How was the meeting with the Mover guy? Lance and Keith just left for theirs.” Hunk swivelled around in his chair to face Shiro and Allura. He stood up to pace up and down the tent a few times. The deaths of the casualties or lack of answers could have been either of the things to get to him. Either way, he needed time away from his screen like anyone else. Shiro sympathised.

“It went well, we have a lead as to how this could have happened. Everything is going according to plan. Once Lance and Keith are back, we’ll compare what we have and check it against the data. By then, we can begin an evacuation on these kids.” Shiro knew it was best to keep everyone’s motivation high. If there was one thing his team wasn’t, it was stupid. They knew things weren’t going their way, but they were also the smartest minds in the galaxy. If anyone could figure out how to evacuate those kids, they could.

 

 

“I hope you’re right. Before then, though, I’d like to get them some oxygen. It’ll help them keep their strength up for the evacuation process.” Adam also took a step back from his screens to join Pidge in rubbing his sore eyes. Pidge even took a moment to remove her glasses, cleaning them with a nearby rag.

“What about my bots? We could try and strap some masks on the back and get them in there?” Adam knelt down to pick up a mask from his medical pack and examine its size and shape, visualising how it would work, given the right materials.

“I think it may just work. I have five masks, so we’ll have to share them out.” Hunk and Pidge sat back down at their screens. Pidge slid her glasses back on and cracked her knuckles, the sound making Hunk wince, before typing in the command to bring the bots back out the wreckage. The bots bleeped in response, before turning around to follow her order.

“We can do that. As long as those kids they have something to help them breath.”

“MO levels have gone up three percent.” Came Hunk’s reading, as he saw the needle on his dial creep ever upwards. As the three continued to work, Allura and Shiro took a step back, as not to bother them.

“Now all we have to do is wait for Keith and Lance to return, and then we can figure out what truly caused this tragedy.”

 

The pilot of the second vessel was being held in another secure unit on the opposite side of the sectioned off area. As Keith and Lance checked over the data on their transmitters, they walked in relatively comfortable silence, the only noise being the soft crunch of the sand under their boots.

“So, the pilot’s name is Demila. She managed to leap from the ship right before the crash.” Keith reaffirmed, checking Lance had received the same data, as Keith’s came directly from the blades, and was therefore written in Galran, sometimes there were slight errors in translations. Lance hummed, his eyes unusually on the ground and shoulders tense. Keith glanced sideways at the lukewarm response, but continued to read.

“Shiro sent through some info about a manually triggered signal the pilot should have sent, so we’ll ask her some questions about that.” Lance only hummed half- heartedly again. Getting the same response a second time was all the indication he needed. Keith closed his transmitter and took a hold of Lance’s wrist, halting his brisk advance towards the secure unit.

“Okay, what’s up with you? You haven’t been acting yourself ever since we got here.” Keith deliberately tried not to sound aggressive. He knew when to push Lance, and knew this wasn’t the time for aggression, it was a gentle nudge of concern. Aggression would only rile him up further. Lance felt the heat of Keith’s palm against his hand and he turned towards him.

“You’re right. Something has been bothering me. Y’know when something doesn’t sit right in your gut? Like an eel squirming around in there or something?”

“I get the picture.”

“Yeah, well something about this whole crash has got my stomach eel going nuts. Something isn’t right, Keith. I know it. Those poor kids are just-“

“Hey.” Keith squeezed his hand, and Lance took a deep breath, and Keith continued. “I get your feeling. Something hasn’t been sitting with me either, but the sooner we get this over with the sooner we can prove we’re right.” Lance smiled lopsidedly, and Keith’s lips twitched upwards, the scar on his face restricting the movement ever so slightly. Lance always liked that quirk about him though, he thought it made him even more unique.

 

The two of them stepped up onto the secure unit. Like the other, it was modelled rather like a trailer, but this time with only two rooms. One was a room for officers, with a panel of one-way glass so they could see the suspect, and an intercom so they could speak to them. The other room holding the suspect themselves. Keith and Lance stepped into the officer’s room and looked out through the one-way glass. In the suspect room, a figure sat lonely under a single flickering light with their head resting in their palms, a few soft sobs could be heard through the glass.

“That must be Demila.” Lance checked the police file on the desk in front of him.

“Must be. She’s not Multhran.” Keith leaned over to read the manila folder with him. Demila herself was obviously not Multhran. She was far more humanoid than the Multhra were. She was covered in a layer of purple scales, thick spines trailing their way from the top of her head all the way down her back. In fact, it would be an accurate assumption to say that she bore much more of a resemblance to the Galra than either humans or Multhra.

“Do you want to go in and interview her, and I’ll stay here with the Dictaphone?” Keith was already pulling up the Dictaphone software a little too quickly, and Lance raised an eyebrow. He knew Keith too well for him not to know when he was uncomfortable.  
“Any reason you don’t want to interview her?” Keith stopped what he was doing and looked suddenly shy. Lance was stuck with the image of Keith with those expressive Galran ears. If he had them, they would be flattened against his head right now. Keith stopped trying to look like he was busy, and spoke so Lance could barely hear him.

“W-well… she’s crying, and you’re far better at this stuff than I am.”

 

Had they not been so aware of their mission, Lance might have kissed him, but he knew it wasn’t the time or place. Keith had grown better with people’s feelings and emotions, Lance was the first one to know. It wasn’t as if Keith didn’t consider people’s feelings, he just had trouble knowing how to handle them still, and it was an endless source of discomfort for him. In their most private moments, Keith told him he was often upset in the fact he couldn’t be entirely comfortable around either humans or Galra. Which is why in these moments, Lance was happy to take over as leader while Keith was still figuring things out. Lance smiled softly.

“Okay. You stay here with the Dictaphone and I’ll give the interview.”

 

Keith looked at him gratefully, and pressed play on the Dictaphone software on his communicator while Lance stepped round into the interview room. The second he walked in, Demila’s head snapped up, even through her thick, scaled skin, her eyes managed to be red and puffy from her tears. She looked at Lance with an anxious trepidation.

“Hi, I’m Lance, you must be Demila?” Lance really tried not to sound like a police officer when he gave interviews. He always wanted to give interviewees the benefit of the doubt to tell the truth before he acted like the tough guy. Demila wiped her eyes and sniffed.

“Yes, I’m the pilot of Tikker Travellers.” She said it with an air of remorse. Lance sat down opposite her.

“Obviously we have some questions to ask you about what happened today with your ship.” Demila immediately panicked, lunging forward to grab at Lance’s armour. It was the second time someone had done that today.

“I promise you, I didn’t do it! I promise those kids were in the safest hands! I sent the signal to the control tower and-“

“Wow, wow, slow down!” Lance took Demila’s hands from him, and gave a quick signal to Keith in the other room he was okay and didn’t need assistance. He knew that must have put Keith on edge. He took a few deep, slow breaths, encouraging Demila to join him. It seemed to work as her muscles relaxed, and the death grip she had on his hands loosened. Lance smiled sympathetically, and tried to initiate eye contact with her.

 

“Okay Demila, you said that it was you transporting those kids today. Can you tell me where you were taking them and why?” Lance was slow and encouraging. Demila didn’t look up to him when she answered.

“They’re from an orphan programme set up by some of the Galra that are trying to rebuild the civilisation after it was wrecked by the war. My company was hired to take them out on a trip today to see the Glamphonian Gizas a few solar systems over. I was only making a stop here for fuel.”  Lance hummed reassuringly, but looked over to the one-way glass out the corner of his eye. Keith knocked on it twice to confirm the Dictaphone was recording. Lance rubbed the back of Demila’s hand with his thumb in a comforting gesture.

“Damn, those Glamphonian Gizas. I visited them once, almost blew me to bits!” A humourless chuckle met his ears, and Lance supposed that was better than nothing. Remembering that time was of the essence, he moved on. “Okay. Can you tell me about the manually operated signal? One of my colleagues has spoken to the Multhran Movers ship, and he’s already said he operated the signal after he got your go ahead. Is this true?” Demila looked up, and there was a look of confusion about her.

“No. Well, kind of. It’s true that I sent my signal, and this was done manually, but I sent my signal after I had received his go ahead to land. I would never have come in to land had I known he was taking off. He must be mistaken, I definitely sent my signal after receiving his.” Lance furrowed his brow and looked to the one-way glass, he couldn’t see Keith but knew he shared his suspicious thoughts.

“We’ll look into it. Thank you for talking to us, Demila.” Lance patted her hand and made to get up, but she quickly held him back.

“I’m sorry, Lance, but I have to ask. The children, are they okay? Ever since I managed to jump from the cockpit just in time, they’ve been weighing on my conscience ever since.” Lance swallowed.

“We’re doing everything we can to make sure our operation goes as smoothly as possible.” With that, he went to the other room, closing and locking the door behind him to check Keith had all the information they needed.

 

Keith closed the transcript and subtly gave Lance a once over to make sure Demila hadn’t hurt him when she grabbed him. With assurance that he looked okay, Keith leaned against the table and typed into his transmitter.

“So, she swears by the fact she sent the signal.” He sent off the transcript to Shiro knowing that they were no closer finding out what happened. It was all a game of ‘he says, she says’.

“Yeah, and she swears by the fact it was in response to his. This whole thing could just be a pilot error, but Keith, I’m still not so sure.” Lance worried his bottom lip between his teeth, biting a loose piece of skin. Keith was sure that if he fretted any more, he wouldn’t have a bottom lip left.

“We need the black boxes from the aircraft, and a visit to the control tower to prove her story, but if she’s telling the truth and Krill is lying, he has some serious explaining to do.” Lance turned back to look at Demila, who had returned to her position of having her head in her hands, solemn expression back in place. All kinds of emotions crawled uncomfortably under Lance’s skin.

“Or she’s a damn good actress.”


	2. Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuation...

Lance and Keith headed back to the tech tent to report their findings, Lance held the flap open for Keith, and as they ducked inside, they looked on to where everyone was gathered around one monitor, once again, all looking over Pidge and Hunk’s shoulders.

“What’s going on here?” Keith asked, as he peeked through the gap of Allura’s hair, where she was sitting down, and the space between Shiro’s shoulder and his prosthetic.

“Pidge and Hunk are trying to get some oxygen to the children who are easiest to access, but they’re having to do it via manual controls, due to the excess strain of the oxygen on the bots and the tricky terrain.” Allura leaned in as she spoke, so as not to distract their concentration. She then made subtle gesture over at the other screen. Keith glanced at it, and noticed it was the Mortis Oxide readings. The tiny red needle had shot around the dial since they got there, and now he thought about it, even he had noticed his chest had begun to feel noticeably tighter.

“Okay, there they are, Hunk. Do you also have visual?” Pidge manoeuvred the turret on her robot’s camera to bring the image into focus. Once again, they were forced to desensitise themselves from what they saw. Three Galran children were huddled together in the mess of steel, one with his legs crushed so far under a metal beam they were barely attached to his body, another with her arm trapped above her head, the third contorted in a tight corner, making it difficult for him to breath.

“I have a visual, although the gas is making it difficult for my sensors.”

 

Just a glance at the Mortis Oxide readings made it clear why his problem was so prevalent. Even when Hunk had visual, it wasn’t very good. Static blocked the screen so much it was more down to the map to see where he was going.

“Okay, I’m almost there.” Hunk’s hands were steady on the bot’s controls, and he edged it forward with care further and further. He only had one more steel beam to make it over, when there came an almighty shift, and the awful sound of metal scraping on metal. The 3D map beside them lit up red with the signal ‘WARNING’. From what could be seen, the environment inside was beginning to shift and slide.   
“Pidge, I must have knocked something.” Over the intercom, the children began to panic. The space around them closing in faster and faster, and their injuries becoming ever more crushed. They wanted to draw in breath, but they couldn’t with the air becoming more polluted.

“Our gas readings just spiked, we must have hit a canister.” Hunk was frantically closing all the warnings on his screen and trying to regain movement controls back on his bot.

“My bot’s lost movement.” Pidge pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, setting her elbows down on the desk. Adam leaned over them both.

“That’s a bit of a setback” Adam’s nature as a doctor gave nothing away as to what condition these children were actually in, and in this moment, the group was grateful. “Pidge, do you still have your bot online with a mask they can use?” Pidge gathered herself, shuffling back in her chair.

“Yeah. My bot is still online, I’ve just lost movement. You can open the intercom and speak to them.”

 

Adam pressed the button to access the intercom.

“Everybody, it’s Doctor Winters, are you okay in there?” Adam asked in a collected manner, seemingly prepared for the response he’d get.

 “My legs! Help us!”  
“My arm!” The sobbing and wheezing continued, and yet Adam seemed to be unmoved on the outside.

“Okay everyone, I know it hurts, and you’re being braver than anyone I know, but I need you to focus right now. Can you do that?” Adam was commanding in a strict way, but he wasn’t using harsh language. He was giving orders that could be easily understood even when people were in pain. Orders that could spare their safety.  

“Y- yeah.”

“Okay. There is a robot about three feet in front of you, attached to it is an oxygen mask, take turns to use it, and make sure you can all get enough oxygen.” It was a few moments, but slowly the child with the crushed legs turned and took the mask from the top of the robot, before slipping it over his head. Seeing the large lungful of air he took was a physical relief for both him and the paladins.

“Okay, make sure you remember to share the mask out every few minutes.” Adam instructed. The child with the mask gave a strained smile.

“It’s okay. I won’t let my friends go without.” Adam smiled in response.

“You’re a good friend. Hold tight, we’ll be back soon.”

 

The group managed to relax a little, the stress taking its toll both physically and mentally. Adam opened his medical logs, and inputted a few pieces of data. Allura came up behind him to look at it.

“It’s very good we got a mask to them.” Adam hummed in agreement.

“Yes, it is, great job everyone. I just want to ask something though.” He turned to the group. “Are you all feeling okay?” The paladins looked up from their spots over monitors or comparing data. It struck them as vastly odd that they were on a mission on an alien planet with morbidly sick children, gas that could kill at any moment, and their doctor had just asked if _they_ were okay. There was a moment’s hesitation.

“Maybe tight in the chest, but otherwise fine.” Came Hunk’s reply. There were general nods of agreement. Adam pulled out a portable MedScanner to hover over everyone as the device came up with their vitals. He stopped at Allura.

“Princess Allura, nothing unusual on your front?” Allura raised an eyebrow, watching the device appear with ‘ALTEAN’ at the top.  
“Only that my ears popped when the last canister of gas exploded, but I think that can be attributed to Altean biology.” Adam hummed. He put the MedScanner down on a nearby table.

“Takashi? Arm is okay?” Shiro clenched and unclenched his fist, and Adam took hold of the prosthetic to move it up and down and side to side.

“Feels normal.” Adam’s eyes then flicked sideways.

“Keith?”

 

 Everyone turned to look at him, and it was apparent as soon as they saw him that Keith was not faring as well as everyone else since the last canister of gas exploded. He was breathing as if he were drowning, attempting to take deep breaths, but not quite managing it. His skin was pale and clammy, and he sweating profusely, like he was on death’s door. But the most noticeable difference was in his eyes. Instead of his normal, dark irises, his eyes had turned their full Galran gold.

“I think I’m being affected a little more here, but I’m fine.” Lance looked at him in horror, immediately accepting the chair Adam passed him to sit him down.

“You look awful! Why do you look so much worse than the rest of us?” Lance held the back of his hand to Keith’s forehead, pushing his sweaty hair so it was off his face. He was burning up. Adam flicked a torch from his belt and did a quick examination of Keith’s golden eyes, watching the catlike pupils dilate, before shifting his armour aside to take his blood pressure.

“When I was reading up on Galran anatomy back when we first knew of Keith’s little quirk…”

“Go to hell, four eyes.” Adam ignored Keith’s insult, and pulled out a needle from his medical pack.  
“Hold still.” Keith had had hundreds of needles in his life, many of them given by Adam himself. However, he had never had Adam slam one so hard into his leg it physically pierced through his Kevlar armour.

“OW, QUIZNAK!”

“I found out that the Galra possess a rather uncommon trait called dermal absorption, which means that they can intake chemicals through their skin, thing is, usually this would be oxygen, so it’s fine…”

“But right now, he’s taking in MO like it’s no one’s business.” Lance finished, looking at Keith’s pale skin and yellow eyes.

“So those Galran kids are also absorbing the gas through their skin like Keith is?” Hunk asked.

“Yes, that’s why the masks aren’t fool proof.”

 

Keith rubbed at his sore leg and pouted up at Adam.

“That hurt, asshole.” Adam mockingly pouted back down at him, and fluffed his hair.

“You’ll thank me when you live.” Lance watched the two of them banter back and forth, he was glad they had brought Adam along with them on the mission today. With the mission brought to the forefront of his mind, Lance opened his transcript.

“Oh, we spoke to Demila. She swears that she sent the signal after she received confirmation from the Multhran Movers ship, and she did this manually.” Shiro pulled up the transcript from his conversation with Octavius Krill.

“Krill says the exact opposite. He says he sent the signal after receiving the Tikker Traveller confirmation.” Everyone exchanged glances at one another.

“Something odd is going on here.” Allura voiced the suspicions of everyone.

“I know, right. Anyone else getting the serious dodgies?” Hunk fiddled with his fingers, a nervous habit he’d had since the Garrison days. It seemed everyone was in agreement now. Someone was lying, and they were going to find out who.

“There’s only one way to know for sure. We need to go to the control tower and check the signals first hand and see who’s telling the truth.” Keith’s voice was a little raspy, like his throat had dried out. He still looked pale and a little clammy. He had sat forwards with his elbows resting on his knees. Lance knelt next to him and rested a hand on his forearm.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Keith spared a glance sideways to give Lance a reassuring pat on the hand.

“Right as rain.”

 

Lance didn’t believe him for a second, but Keith wasn’t going to let it go. Lance decided he would keep an eye on him. Assured that Keith was going to be okay, at least for the time being, Shiro looked over his team.

“Okay, Pidge we need you to come to the control tower with us to do the computers. Hunk, Adam, are you okay controlling the situation here?” Hunk gave the thumbs up.

“I’m running a dispersion algorithm as we speak, so we can start removing the wreck from the top with the lions and the Alfor and getting our casualties out.” Hunk sat back down in his chair, with Adam standing next to him. Pidge cracked her knuckles as she got up, a similar cracking sound coming from her knees. Hunk pulled a face of disgust as he heard it.

“Okay, let’s go to the control tower.”

 

The control tower stood a short distance away from where the crash happened, so it didn’t take long for the group to reach it. In outward appearance, it looked not dissimilar to the control towers back on Earth. It was an overall unremarkable, tall, grey, cement building with windows at the top, so the space traffic controllers could look out to the long stretch of runway below. Although this time, while climbing up, it only gave the paladins a bird’s eye view of what they were dealing with. There were a ridiculous number of stairs to actually get to the top, and Lance complained the whole way that the Multhra were indeed advanced enough for lifts. He was dismissed by the others, as the door to the control room stood before them at last, after what was a rather tiring climb. As they entered, they were surprised to find that they weren’t alone, as they suspected they would be.

 

The two enormous Multhran police officers stood imposingly in full uniform by the desks. On the chairs, Demila and Krill sat fidgeting and shifting around uncomfortably under so many scrutinising eyes.  

“What’s going on here?” Allura asked. One of the police officers slammed a heavy hand down on the back of Krill’s chair, making him jump as the bang reverberated around the room.

“We thought they might be of help. The control requires access codes, and we thought if they could be here to give them up, it would make things go a lot faster.” The officer stepped to the side, and behind him, the large, main computer was already powered up, the single flickering line on screen ready to type out commands. Pidge edged forwards, trying hard not to stare at the enormous officer. She knew she was short, she was teased mercilessly for it, but she barely came up to the officer’s waist. She sat herself down at the control desk, applying herself to the task at hand, and trying very hard to ignore the awkward atmosphere. She began to type.   
“That does make life a little easier for me.” She supplied, as way of thanks.

 

The tapping of the computer keys lasted for a few minutes or so as she inputted lines upon lines of data. Numbers and letters flew across her screen faster than the untrained eye could see. Behind her, the team could only wait and occupy themselves with whatever was on their minds.

“How are you holding up, Keith?” Shiro took his focus off Pidge for a moment to check up on him. He squeezed Keith’s shoulder, a concerned look about him. Allura also seemed to share in this concern, coming over to pat his back.

“I had no idea the Galra possessed such an ability. Thank Alfor Adam researched it.” Keith huffed a laugh. He was looking better than he did earlier, but he was still a little pale, with his golden eyes lowered to the floor, avoiding looking at anyone. Lance could tell he was trying to draw attention away from his eyes, whether it was conscious or not, he wasn’t sure. Keith hated his Galra features and behaviours, and went above and beyond to hide them. The only time he voluntarily showed his Galra side was to the Blades when he spoke Galran, and that was because he thought he wasn’t being taken seriously. Lance had told him time and time again he couldn’t help the way he was, but Keith wouldn’t have it. Lance knew it must have been eating at him to have his eyes on show like they were. When Keith finally looked up, he waved off Shiro and Allura as if they were a pair of mother hens.

“All our chests are tight, but other than that, whatever our kind doctor stuck me with is working. I’m feeling better now we’re further away from the crash site too.”

 

Pidge chose that moment to take her attention away from the computer for a second, and call back over her shoulder at Krill and Demila.

“What were your flight numbers?” Krill was only too happy to help, perking up from his place seated at another nearby flight desk.

“India, golf, foxtrot, nine, two, zero, three.” Pidge confirmed the number by repetition, and Demila also stated hers.

“Echo, whiskey, papa, six, four, five, eight.” As Pidge typed in the second number, all of the paladins gathered around her to take a look at the data that appeared on the screen before them. Pidge’s eyes scanned it all keenly, the computer mouse hovering over the parts she was reading.

“Okay, so Krill sent the signal manually on behalf of the autopilot to the control tower at exactly zero six hundred hours, right on schedule.” Lance leaned in closer over Pidge’s head.

“Okay, but was the signal received?” Pidge typed something in to narrow down her search.

“The Multhran movers autopilot sent the signal to the Tikker Traveller vessel…” She paused as she read, but her face fell, and she let out a small resigned sigh. “Tikker received the request. They sent the signal response, clearing them for take-off… But the vessel commenced landing procedures anyway.”

 

The reaction was instantaneous.

 

Demila shot out of her seat, pointing an accusing finger at the screen.

“No! That has to be wrong!” The paladins said nothing as they stared back at her. The data didn’t lie, but all of them shared a look of discomfort as the police moved in to take Demila away. As each of the huge officers took one of her arms, she struggled against them, kicking her legs out, thrashing and pleading.

“Please! You have to believe me! I never went in to land without a signal!” The police reached for their restraining devices as Demila continued to kick and struggle.

“Demila, you are under arrest on the charge of dangerous flying, causing death by dangerous flying, and causing serious bodily harm by dangerous flying, any words you utter will be used against your person in front of an elder and-“

“Am I free to go now?” Krill’s voice cut through the chaos like a knife through butter, silencing the officers mid- monologue, and earning a _poisonous_ look from Demila. The police looked a little taken aback, and Krill looked on painfully expectantly. As per protocol, the policeman nodded.

“Octavius Krill, you are hereby released from police custody. You are fr-“

 

“Wait.”

 

Allura’s sharp command halted the police officer. She was intently focused, not on the uncomfortable scene playing out before her, but on the screen. Lance looked to where she was practically burning a hole in the monitor with her eyes.  
“What is it?” he asked. Allura pointed to a single line of data with a delicate finger.

“Look at that. Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Everyone leaned in to examine what she had found, and one by one, upon careful scrutinisation, they all came to the same, situation altering, drastic conclusion. Shiro slowly turned around, and stood to his full, imposing height, his hands held in loose fists at his sides.

“Krill, you said you were making a delivery of energy rods that day. It says here you were only supposed to transport some light cargo of fruits and nuts to the next planet over. Why were you carrying highly toxic gases?”

 

Shiro’s face was deadly serious, so much so that his expression could serrate steel in that moment as he looked back at Krill. Krill opened his mouth to speak, but was quickly interrupted by Lance.

“And here! It says your ship can hold twelve tonnes, but when it took off, it was holding eighteen. Where’s the transcript of that interview?” Keith pulled up the transcript Shiro had sent him on his communicator.

“There!” Allura points to Krill’s own words. “You say that you carry out pre- safety measures?” By this point, Krill was looking paler and paler. Pidge tapped away at the computer, suspicion drew lines all over her face as she dug deeper and deeper into the signalling system. Once she had found what she was looking for, she spun her chair around, arms folded over her chest with a face like thunder.

“It seems that this morning, the Tikker Traveller manual signal _was_ actually sent in response to the Multhran Movers take-off request. Only it seems it was blocked and bounced back by someone in the control tower, who sent a signal back, giving permission for the transporter to come in to land. Someone with the control access key of ‘Oscar Kilo’. O. K. Or maybe one Octavius Krill?”

 

With the evidence now overwhelming him, Krill’s head was lowered to stare at the ground, his eyes unable to meet anyone else’s in the room, and his lips pressed together in a firm line. Shiro was the first to speak through the silence.

“Okay officers, I think you can take him away.” The police quickly muttered an apology to Demila and moved in to restrain Krill, but were stopped when Keith held out a hand to block their path. Keith took a step forward, just enough so he knew it would threaten Krill. Anyone who knew Keith could see the dark look about him. It was a glint in his yellow eyes that only spelled danger. His pupils had narrowed to slits as he advanced towards Krill.

“Why?” Was all Keith asked, his tone dangerously composed. Krill kept his buggy eyes on the ground, but his expression hardened. The paladins watched as Keith advanced forward, and the air around them grew thick. Keith looked like a snake ready and poised to strike.

“Why does a businessman dangerously overfill his own ship with toxic chemicals and then deliberately crash it with a transport vessel?” Keith was stood right in front of him now, practically nose to nose and invading his personal space. Keith was almost snarling, his voice lowered in an attempt to control his anger.

“There were kids on that ship.” He reminded him. Krill’s head snapped up. His eyes were wide and wild, his teeth gritted, but not in remorse or upset as he spat out;

“Galran kids.”

 

It went so silent you could have heard a pin drop.

 

“What did you say?” Keith had heard him, but every single one of the paladins knew this was him giving Krill an opportunity to change his answer. Shiro took a cautious step into the fray.

“Keith.” He said in warning, making an attempt to defuse the tension building between the pair, but Krill took a pace forward to lean right into Keith’s face. His voice was like the sound of gravel under boots. Hard in its edge.

“What is a monster to you, paladin? Is it something that that hides under your bed at night? Something that haunts your nightmares? Maybe even something that happened to you in the past? Not for me. My monsters walk among us every single day, and I’m expected to just live with it. The Galra destroyed my home planet, destroyed my livelihood, and destroyed my business. They came here and they destroyed everything, and now they want our help and resources trying to get back on their feet after all they did to us.” Krill’s voice began to rise in volume as he chuckled, speaking through gritted teeth. Keith’s eyes narrowed and his frown deepened as Krill continued. “My family starved under the Galran empire. My mate, my children. _Starved_. Did anyone care? No. My children are gone, and here the Galra are reaping the benefits for their own.” Allura stood listening, but could not stand to see Krill’s actions even attempt to be justified, and seeing Keith’s clenched fists quaking at his sides, she stepped in.

“Altea was destroyed by the Galra, but we are civilised enough not to seek revenge on those who are innocent! Certainly not children!” Krill slammed his hand down on a nearby desk in rage.

“There is no such thing as an innocent Galra! Every single one of them must be eradicated to have lasting peace in our universe!” He turned his attention back to stare venomously at Keith, his lip curled in a sneer. “Voltron would do well to recognise that.”

 

The paladins stood stock still, not quite believing what they were hearing. Keith’s nails, more like claws now, were digging so hard into his palms it was a miracle they weren’t drawing blood. He trembled with anger. His voice was low.

“They were fucking children.” Krill shook his head slowly with a grin spreading across his face. The grin wasn’t one of happiness, it was maniacal. Just skin stretched over bone with no emotion behind it. The look of a man who had lost his mind.

“No… They were animals.” He punctuated his words with poking a finger into Keith’s armour breastplate. “Just. Like. You.”

 

Keith snapped.

 

 

He lunged for Krill, drawing his Marmoran blade faster than the untrained eye could see. Krill let out a loud shout as he was crowded violently against the closest wall, and the room descended into mayhem. Shiro and Lance lunged for Keith, who had his arm drawn back, and pupils blow wide, his blade glinting in the artificial light of the room.

“Keith! No!” Shiro grabbed the arm that held his knife, and Lance loosened the other that held Krill to the wall. Lance noticed, with concern, that Keith’s face was indistinguishable as to whether it was human or Galra, as he growled and snarled at Lance and Shiro to release him. Shiro used his Altean arm to keep a firm grip on Keith as he calmed himself. Allura and Pidge restrained Krill with what was undoubtedly more force than necessary, and handed him over to the police, to which he went without a fight. He calmly placed his hands behind his back and allowed the restraints to be placed around his skinny wrists. He merely looked over at Keith, Lance and Shiro sat on the floor. Krill’s eyes were fixated on Keith and he whispered.

“With any luck, while you’re sitting here scratching your heads, all that Mortis Oxide will be doing its work.”

 

The realisation struck Keith like a bolt of lightning.

 

They were taking far too long. If they didn’t act now, those kids were going to die.

 

It was like the walls had closed around him as Keith shrugged off Shiro and Lance’s grips, he got up off the ground, and he ran. He ran as fast as he could. Behind him, Shiro and Lance tried to grab onto him again, afraid he was going after Krill, however were confused when he pushed open the heavy fire escape door as if it were nothing.

“Where’s he going?” Lance asked, looking after him.

“Maybe to cool off?” Shiro replied, sitting back on his hands, tired from restraining him.

“Running like that? That was definitely a run of someone about to something stupid and irrational.” Pidge leaned up on her toes to peek out the top window of the control tower to see if she could see Keith down below. Allura joined her in trying to spy him from above. It didn’t take long to spot the small red figure moving on the ground below them. Allura raised a delicate eyebrow.

“Correct me if I’m mistaken, but he seems to be heading-“

“What is he doing!?” Pidge exclaimed.

“What _is_ he doing?” Lance leapt up to look out, Shiro by his side. Keith was still running full tilt… and heading straight for the wreckage.

“Don’t tell me…” Lance already knew exactly what Keith up to, but didn’t want to believe it. Shiro was already leading the sprint after him.

“He’s going to run straight in there.”

 

 

The four of them set a furious pace after Keith. They practically flew out of the control tower, and the more they ran, the more each one of them could feel their lungs struggling for air, like a snake had wound its way around their chests and was squeezing tightly. Their boots sank into the sand as they ran, but that didn’t slow them down even as their muscles began to tire. They used their jetpacks as they tired further. The closer they came to the crash site, the more and more rocks they flew over, until they were able to land and duck under the police tape. Adam and Hunk came staggering towards them, the effects of the gas becoming evident, even with the addition of their helmets providing them oxygen. Lance’s heart sank when he saw Hunk held Keith’s helmet under his arm.

“What the hell is going on!?” Adam was clearly furious. His eyes were wide behind his visor. Hunk braced himself on his knees gesturing to the crash.

“Keith ran right in there! He’s literally in that mess right now without a helmet!” Hunk gasped. Adam tried to take a few breaths, all of which were painfully shallow, and for a minute Shiro thought he was going to faint. He guided Adam to sit down for a moment. He hadn’t seen him sit down all day. Adam was itching to get up as soon as he was lowered to the floor. He pulled up Keith’s vitals to let Shiro look over.

“Keith was in a bad way before he went in there. We need to get everyone out _now_. If we don’t, our casualties will die. Keith will too.”

 

It wasn’t new that people’s lives were at stake, but the risk was high, and options were at zero. The news hit Lance hard. Keith was in there, and he needed help. He physically hurt at the thought of losing him like this. He took a few paces in a circle with his fingers linked behind his head to clear his mind, and perhaps blink away some emotion lingering just beneath the surface. Hunk looked down at his communicator, gripping it tightly.

“Okay, I don’t know if this will work-“ Lance tried to give away no hint of how desperate he was for a plan of any sort. Not only for Keith, but also for those poor kids.

“Hunk, right now whatever you’ve got the best damn option, so fire away.” Hunk wrapped an arm around Lance’s shoulder in a small gesture of comfort for his friend. Lance was grateful. Hunk always had a sixth sense to know when people were hurting or stressed out.

“Okay, well, if Pidge can activate the tracker on Keith’s suit and figure out what he’s doing in there, my dispersion algorithm has come back with some results. This means can take a good guess on which parts of the ruined vessel we can remove safely from above. We would have to use the Alfor’s Bulmerman power because the fuel thrusters on the lions would dangerously heat the metal if they got that close, and while Allura keeps the Alfor steady, Shiro can suspended from a harness, ready to receive the kids from Keith to hand straight to Adam for medical treatment.”

 

Everyone listened to Hunk’s plan with an intense focus. Everyone zeroed in on their part to play, what was involved, and who did what. Pidge pushed her glasses up her nose.

“It’s risky, and there’s a certain amount of guesswork, but quiznak knows we don’t have a better plan, so let’s get going!” With confidence from Pidge’s genius, Allura ran off in the direction of where they arrived.  
“I’ll get the Alfor!” She declared. Shiro helped Adam up, and with a small shove from him as an indication to go, and that he would be fine, Shiro was off with her.

“I’m going to prepare a new bay for Keith.” Adam hurried off as well. Lance looked on after him, and then towards the wreckage. It was gnawing his insides knowing Keith was in there alone, without his helmet. It was no secret that without any supplies he wasn’t going to last long. Pidge started to formulate her plan.

“We have to set up too, Hun-“

 

Lance had made his decision.

  
“I’m going in there.” Pidge and Hunk whipped around to start at him.

“What? Lance what are you on about?” Lance set a confident pace towards the tech tent.

“I’m getting extra O2 and communications and going in. I can’t leave Keith in there alone. I’m serious, don’t try and stop me.” Lance was already picking up supplies scattered all over the tables. He attached a small oxygen canister to his utility belt, and the adjourning mask clipped to the side. He expected a ruckus from Pidge and Hunk behind him, he was all ready to block them both out.

“We’re not going to try and stop you.” Pidge said from the doorway. Lance turned back to them. _Now_ he was puzzled. Usually Pidge was the first to point out if he was being an idiot. “If it was Matt in there I’d be the first one to go after him.” Hunk hummed in agreement.

“Same if it were any of my loved ones.” He held out a communicator. “Just take this before you go, Sharpshooter.” Lance took the communicator with a thankful smile, and pulled his friends into a firm group hug.

“You guys are the best. Keep us alive in there.”

 

Lance slipped his helmet on, and leaned down so Pidge could activate the advanced tracker on his back. He didn’t waste any time heading towards the small opening in the destruction where he knew Keith must have entered. It was tiny, but just big enough for a person to squeeze through with armour on. It would be a tighter push for Lance, but he knew he would make it. He had to. With one last look at the outside world, he ducked inside.

 

Pidge and Hunk sat down at their computers, surveying the 3D map Pidge’s bots had created. Lance’s tracker had him marked as a small blue blip about to enter the wreck zone.

“Okay, I’m going to find a location on Keith.” Pidge typed in Keith’s reference number into the search bar. Although she didn’t voice it out loud, she was concerned the gas may have interfered with the tracking system in Keith’s suit. After a few anxious seconds, she let out a relieved puff when Keith’s location popped up almost next to the group of three Galran children. Satisfied there were no setbacks yet, she flicked her communication online so she could speak to the rest of the group.

“Okay everyone, we’ve had a bit of a change of plan. Lance is now fully suited up and in the danger zone. He’s making his way to Keith right now.” There was a crackle of static interference over the line before a reply came through.

“Copy that, Pidge. Shiro and I are at the Alfor and are ready for lift off.” Came Allura’s no nonsense reply.

“Medical bays are waiting to receive.” Came Adam’s response. Pidge singled out Lance’s communication line.

“Okay, Lance, can you hear me?” There was a slight delay.

“Copy, I can hear you.”

“What are your conditions like in there?”

 

From inside the wreckage, Lance took a moment to look around within his extremely limited space. It was a good thing he wasn’t claustrophobic. All around him, the strong smell of engine fuel was making it past his helmet’s air filters so potently he could almost taste it in the back of his throat. He wrinkled his nose in repulsion. It was a stench he’d always hated. Masked in the engine fuel smell, however, was a smell he recognised, strangely enough, as almonds. Lance knew it must have been the Mortis Oxide. The irony wasn’t lost on him how something so deadly could have such a pleasant scent. Making his way further into the terrain, he tried to crawl forward, feeling the scrape of some metal over the Kevlar mesh of his suit, his armour knocking against the steel framing of his surroundings. He brushed away some wires hanging overhead as he wriggled his way through the tight space. On his visor, what felt like hundreds of warnings were flashing up about air pressure and ground stability.

“It’s tight, and it stinks to high heaven. God only knows how these kids are still alive.” He kept crawling forward, traversing the tricky terrain, sometimes even having to go backwards and crawling through pools of radiator fluid, which made it even trickier when he felt the heat of flames lick at his back.

 

He felt like he had been in there for about half an hour and was getting nowhere.

“Hey… guys…” by now, Lance was panting with exertion at having to haul his body weight and his armour with extra supplies through such a narrow space. “Where am I going?” He heard tapping over his intercom, and then Hunk’s voice.

“You’re on the right track, about fifteen feet at thirty degrees right and you’ll see them. Keith has been moving all over the place, so he’s been tricky to track, sorry bud.”

“The Alfor is right over you, Lance. Whenever you’re ready, we can begin extraction.” Shiro was collected as ever. Lance began to crawl, as per Hunk’s instructions, trying to ignore the beads of sweat rolling down his face. As he looked down to see where to place his hands, his whole body locked up as he saw a trail of red over the metal. Blood. He felt a sense of dread well up within him.

 

Keith wasn’t wearing his helmet.

 

Lance began to crawl faster, ducking under beams, scrambling over destroyed control panels. It was only when he came to a small clearing in the destruction was when he finally laid eyes on who he’d been desperate to see.

 

Nestled amongst a small group of Galra children and a single adult, was Keith, looking like he really was at death’s door this time. His face, like many of the children who had been suffering for so long, was contorted in pain, with his yellow eyes only half shut, gasping for breath like a fish out of water. Looking even worse, was the baby resting on his chest. He must have gone around the entire wreck and gathered all the casualties together in one place to make it easier for them to evacuate. Looking over them once, the injuries the children had sustained were in dire need of attention. Bleeding, and unclean. Lance had to snap himself out of his horrified trance.

“Is everybody okay?” He crawled over, knowing immediately it was a stupid question. Of course they weren’t okay. Those who found the strength to look, looked at him through terrified eyes. Lance tried to ignore the blood as he checked each one of them over individually.

“My name is Lance, and we’re here to evacuate you now.” He looked down to Keith, cradling his cheek in his palm.

“Keith? Keith, can you hear me?” Keith’s eyelids fluttered, but Lance didn’t need Adam’s medical knowledge to know that bleeding from the eyes was a bad sign. Lance tried to swallow, but found his mouth was too dry. He opened communications with Pidge.

“Pidge, begin extraction, Keith is in a bad way, so I’m giving him my helmet. With the internal oxygen, it might help him.” Pidge’s reply was immediate.

“I hear you. Do you copy Adam, Allura and Shiro?”

“Copy from the Alfor, we’re moving in to try and extract the metal from the top. We need your guidance, Hunk.”

“Copy from the medical bay, awaiting signal from the Alfor.”

 

Lance blocked out all the official talk from above him, there was nothing he could do now but wait until he saw the light of day. He reached up for his helmet seal to press the deactivation, and the effects he felt were instantaneous. The feeling was like someone had thrown him to the ground to wind him and then sat on his chest. The feeling only got worse as he removed his helmet, where it progressed to the point he thought he was going to vomit up his own tongue, but as he looked at Keith’s barely conscious face and slipped his helmet over his head, he knew he could bear it. He needed it more than he did. As the helmet seal locked into place, Keith took a deep breath as if his lungs had been freed, but he did not wake up.

 

Lance wiped his brow of the sweat that had been forming there, and looked around at the Galran children, all of whom had suffered various injuries. The child who’s turn it was to have to oxygen mask looked at him with wide yellow eyes and spoke weakly.

“I did not know the paladins of Voltron had one of our own among them.” Lance looked back and found it in him to muster up a smile.

“That’s our Keith. His mother is Galra and his father was human.” The children, even through their pain, listened intently, one or two sets of ears managed to perk in interest. Another child piped up.

“He has eyes like us.” Lance couldn’t help but chuckle. He squeezed Keith’s hand, and above them, the scraping of metal sounded as a signal the Alfor had begun extraction. Even sat in the hot and polluted air, Lance thought it was amazing how the eyes Keith hated so much were adored by these children.

“That’s right. Even though he’s half human, that Galra part is as much of him as the human part, and I’ll tell you this…” He leaned in, as if he were telling them a big secret. “He’s the bravest one of all of Voltron.” The metal scraping got louder and louder above them. The child with the mask passed it over to his friend.

“Does he speak Galran?” The governess asked. Lance could imagine her to be very strict were she at full health. Even now, her yellow stare was intimidating. She reminded Lance of Admiral Sanda, or maybe even Iverson.

“Yes, Ma’am. He’s part of the Blade of Marmora.” The children let out small ‘wows’ amongst them. The governess’ eyes drooped as if she was going to pass out.

“He’s short for a Marmorite.” Lance leaned forward to shake her shoulder gently.

“Stay with me, won’t be long now until we’re out of here.”

 

It was as if on cue there was an almighty bang from above them, and the sudden feeling of being pressed downwards struck them. Lance looked upwards, where he could see a metal panel being removed by the Alfor, the power of the vessel blowing his hair every which way. He looked down at Keith, before taking his helmet back from him.

“I promise we’ll get you out of here soon.” He slipped his helmet back on.

“Lance here, come in Allura.”

“Allura here, we have visual on you, Lance. Is that all the casualties?” Lance nodded, forgetting Allura couldn’t see him.

“Yeah, Keith brought them all to one place so they’d be easier to extract.” Pidge hijacked the call.

“He did what!?”

“Okay, we can talk about Keith’s self-destructive heroism later, let’s just save lives now.” Hunk checked his stats for a second before radioing in. “Okay, Shiro, you’re good to drop down.”

 

When Lance looked up, he saw the sky. The daytime on Multhra had faded into night, and he had barely even noticed. The expanse above them had turned a pinkish hue with fluffy clouds dusting across them. Lance could feel his mind becoming hazy, focusing and unfocusing. Overhead, the Alfor’s engines roared, the pressure of its thrusters pushing down on them. Around him, the children squeezed their eyes shut to prevent debris flying into them. A few of them began to whimper or even scream as the dust blew into their wounds. Lance ignored the blood that hit his visor. Lance held a hand over Keith’s face to protect his half- closed eyes from further damage. A drop of blood hit the back of his hand. He reached up to his own face and noticed his own nose was bleeding too.

“Lance, I’m right above you! Prepare the first child for an evacuation!” Lance looked up again, and descending from the Alfor, with a stretcher in tow, Shiro was proceeding with caution.

 

Lance looked to the children. Pidge had always said in times of stress you should keep a logical head. He took as deep a breath as he could manage and reasoned that the sickest children should be the first to be evacuated. Internally cursing the utilitarian nature of it all, he surveyed the casualties. There was a boy who had lost both his legs and was bleeding profusely. Lance knew he should be the first to go, along with the baby, who was barely alive, even breathing through the oxygen mask on Keith’s chest.

“Okay, buddy, you’re going to go first.” Lance didn’t think the poor boy heard him. His sharp teeth were gritted tightly together, and he looked about ready to go into shock. Above him, Shiro braced himself on the frame of the wreck as he lowered himself into the hole the Alfor made in the metal, making his way down slowly and steadily. When his feet found a sturdy place to stand, he took in the scene around him. Shiro immediately frowned at the state of the children and the pools of blood around them. He drew a sharp intake of breath at seeing Keith laying there completely limp.

“Okay, who’s first?” Shiro asked, with urgency. Lance reached over to the little boy to be evacuated first, and as gently as he could, lifted him to pass him to Shiro.

 

 The second he was moved, the boy screamed.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Lance said it over and over, but the screams punctured his heart like an arrow. The child didn’t have the energy to fight against him, but the face he made was heart breaking. Shiro took the child, and Lance could see he was also visibly upset. When he passed up the baby, Shiro cradled the child so close to his chest it was like he would never let go. He radioed in to the Alfor.

“Shiro to Alfor, winch us up.”

 

Child after child was winched up to the Alfor, and each time the pained screams would cut Lance and Shiro like knives, until finally, _finally_ , thanks to the hard work, bravery and dedication of the team, all the casualties were out of the wreckage.

 

Only Lance and Keith remained.

 

With no one else to focus on, Lance turned all his attention to Keith. He cradled Keith’s head in the crook of his arm, his limbs were heavy as if he were dead. It scared Lance to no end. He checked his pulse just in case. It was weak, but still there. Part of Lance was so angry that Keith had run in there with no support, no helmet and no backup plan. However, the other part of him wanted to protect him too much to care. Wanted too much to make sure he was okay and that he had not lost him. Lance found the energy within him to look up and see Shiro winching down one last time to come and get them. Lance brushed a thumb over Keith’s scar.

“Please hold on, just a bit longer, _pobrecito._ ” Keith’s eyes didn’t move. They were eerily still. Pulling back his eyelids, Lance frowned at noticing only one eye was now gold, and the other its ordinary human colour and shape. In an overwhelming flood of emotion, Lance called up to Shiro in desperation.

“Please, hurry! Please! He’s not going to make it!” Shiro dropped down, and hauled Keith onto the stretcher, not being careful or gentle. He did everything with efficiency, as quick as possible without thinking about Keith’s condition too much. Shiro himself knew if he did, there was the possibility he’d overwhelm himself.

“Allura-“ The winch was already going up with the three of them on board. Allura’s voice was hesitant.

“Lance, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine?” There was a beat of silence.

“… and Keith?” Lance swallowed, his breathing quickening. Shiro answered for him.

“He needs to get to Adam as soon as possible.”

 

The medical tent was like a warzone. The three medical pods aboard the Alfor had been brought down, and were being used to treat the sickest of the patients, but Adam was running off his feet back and forth every which way delivering treatment. Around him, the eerie groans of pain and occasional sobs of patients acted as terrible ambience. It really did look like the old pictures of a World War three hospital. Shiro ran in carrying Keith in his arms. He was absolutely loose, like a ragdoll just lying there. Adam saw them come in from the corner of his eye. He was leaned over one of the children, inserting an IV and taping it in place. Shiro looked around quickly, even he was starting to panic.

“Adam, where shall I put him?” Adam’s focus wasn’t broken. He briefly checked his current patient’s vitals were steady, before ripping his gloves off and rushing over to Keith, snapping on a new pair.  

“Right over there.” He pointed to an empty bay. Shiro laid him down on the padded table, unfamiliar equipment ready to be used all around him. Shiro, Lance and Allura took a step back to let Adam work. Adam took out various instruments to check various parts of Keith’s body. As he checked his eyes and his airways, Hunk and Pidge barrelled their way through the entrance of the tent.

“Is he okay!?” Hunk almost shouted. The two of them ran over to the table as Adam tilted Keith’s head back and listened at his mouth for his breath. He hooked up the heart monitor to his index finger. There were a few tense seconds. Adam tapped the heart monitor. His expression tenses. Flat line. Nothing.

“He’s not breathing.”

 

Panic set in.

 

Adam began chest compressions.

“Hunk, get me a defibrillator, set the volts to one thousand two hundred. Takashi, keep an eye on the time for me.” Hunk sprinted over to the other side of the tent, where the defibrillator was clearly marked on the wall. At the side of the bed Shiro opened a discreet timer, as not to further panic anyone, although he was far from calm himself. Allura and Pidge held each other, barely able to watch. Lance was crouched by the bed, gripping Keith’s hand in both of his, murmuring the prayer of the ‘Hail Mary’ in Spanish, unable to hold back tears any longer.

 

Adam took the two paddles from the defibrillator and held them together to build the charge. Beside Keith, Lance finished his prayer and gripped his hand so tightly, he was afraid he may have broken it. The tears continued to come. He couldn’t lose Keith. Not now.  

“Administering shock, all hands and oxygen away.” Lance didn’t want to let go. Allura pulled Lance’s hand back, and Lance sobbed as Adam pressed the two paddles to Keith’s chest and shocked his heart. Keith’s body jolted violently. They all watched the monitor.

 

The flat line persisted.

 

 

“It didn’t work?” Pidge asked quickly. Adam was already fiddling with the defibrillator, adjusting the settings to go again.

“I’m administering another shock and upping the volts.” Adam held the paddles together to build up the charge again. “Hands and oxygen away. Clear.” Keith’s body jolted again.

 

They watched the monitor.

 

_Bleep… bleep… bleep…_

 

A heartbeat.

 

Every person gathered around Keith let out a collective sigh of unfathomable relief. Pidge, Hunk and Allura all embraced each other with tears in their eyes, descending into sobs once the adrenaline had worn off. After he had deactivated the defibrillator, Shiro squeezed Adam tightly, kissing his cheek, he pulled away to stroke at Keith’s hair. Lance had dropped from his crouched position to his knees beside to examination table, taking Keith’s hand back in his and crying even harder. He ran around the table to throw himself at Adam, who accepted him with a smile.

“ _Gracias_.” He sobbed. Adam petted his hair.

“You didn’t think I’d miss the opportunity to hold the time I saved his life over him, would you?” Everyone laughed through their overwhelming relief.

 

Allura pulled up her communications line, wiping the tears away as she did so.

“I’ll contact the Blade of Marmora and let them know the mission was a success. They should be able to take the casualties into their care, so we can get Keith home as soon as possible.” Adam pulled up his files, still acutely aware of his own heart calming down after the scare.

“I’ll prepare a brief for them. None of them are out of the woods yet, and I need to keep a close eye on them. Maybe I could do some minor surgery to make the journey more comfortable. I also want to check you all over to make sure you’re all in good health.” Pidge and Hunk moved to sit on the end of Keith’s bed.

“Can you declare us fighting fit first so we can go and pack up our tech?” Pidge yawned and rolled her shoulders. Hunk shook out his wrists from where they had cramped by being at the keyboard too long.

“Yeah, the rugby is on at home. I want to see the All Blacks destroy the Springboks as soon as possible.” Adam shook his head fondly and shooed them out of there. Allura contacted the Blades, and the casualty handover was scheduled without much commotion. Lance simply stayed beside Keith and waited for him to wake.

 

When the Blades arrived, Adam briefed their doctor on the casualties’ conditions (with a promise to the children themselves they would come and visit), and the Multhran law enforcement thanked the Voltron Defence League for their work, and they would take over in cleaning the crash site and stabilising the air, as well as making sure the ones who were lost in the crash were honoured. It was finally time for the paladins to go home.

 

With all their equipment packed up, they trudged back to the lions, hopping over sharp rocks and avoiding too much sand that would get stuck in their suits. Lance was still a little on edge.

“Are you sure Keith will be okay in the Alfor?” Allura looked sympathetic to his concerns and rested a hand on his shoulder.

“He’s in a medical pod on board. I promise he’ll be okay.” The weight of Adam’s hand rested on his other shoulder.

“I’ll be with him the entire journey. He’s stable, but if he does take a turn for the worse, I’ll be there to sort him out.” With his worried eased, Lance perked up, and cracked his knuckles, making Hunk squirm yet again. He really hated that sound.

“Looks like I’m flying Red home then!” Pidge sniggered.

“I can practically hear Keith telling you not to destroy her!”

“Hey! I flew Red for years!” Hunk gave him a playful shove.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t show!” They all went their separate way to their lions, and Adam towards to Alfor, which also had a mode to be piloted by non- Alteans, a handy feature to include when it became necessary, as Allura flew Blue on the odd occasion. The lift off from Multhra was smooth, and they were on their way back to Garrison.

 

Upon their return, Shiro had a shower and collapsed straight into bed the second he got back to his and Adam’s quarters. He was absolutely exhausted. He could only feel sorry for Adam, who had to go straight onto shift afterwards. So Shiro just allowed himself to fall into a hazy sleep and think about how much more comfortable it would be with his other half there. When Adam did eventually get back from his shift, Shiro had woken up from his slumber and was sat on the edge of his side of the bed. He turned when Adam entered, and showed a sympathetic smile when Adam stripped his clothes and tucked himself in, laying on his front, arms curling under the pillow.

 

 

“It’s been a long one, huh?” Shiro remarked, getting up and sitting on the edge of Adam’s side of the bed. He didn’t receive a response. He ran his fingers through Adam’s hair.

“Hey, ground control to Major Tom?” He kissed the back of his neck. “Can you hear me, Major Tom?” Adam turned his head to peek at him with one tired eye.

“I hear you, Starman.” Upon seeing Shiro’s smiling face, Adam leaned up and kissed him properly, the duvet sliding down around his waist to expose his scarred back. As they pulled away, Adam rested back down.

“How’s Keith?” Adam let his eyelids flutter closed.

“Much better. He’s stable, so he should wake up soon. Lance hasn’t left his side.” Shiro stood up from the bed.

“That’s great news.” He picked up his keys from the hook beside the door. “Thanks to you, Doctor Winters.” Adam cracked an eye open to admire Shiro in his entirety, as he shrugged on his leather jacket and flight goggles.

“Where are you off to?” Adam turned over to lay on his back, one arm coming to drape across his stomach, the other still tucked behind the pillow. Shiro swallowed heavily.

“I’m going hover bike racing with Matt.” Adam chuckled.

“You sure you’re not out of practice?” Shiro cocked an eyebrow and took a few confident paces over to the bed, the corners of his lips upturned.

“What? Don’t think I can beat him?” A sly smirk crossed Adam’s face.

“I don’t know. It might do you good to come second for a change.”

 

Shiro could practically _feel_ his pupils blow wide. He closed the remaining distance between himself and the side bed, letting his eyes run over Adam’s tan and scarred skin. He wet his lips and crouched down by Adam’s pillow, so he was eye level with him.

“Maybe I could keep Matt waiting half an hour.” Adam turned back over onto his stomach to brush fingers through Shiro’s hair, then pecked his lips.

“Half an hour, Starman? I’d say five minutes.” Shiro kissed him more deeply this time, shrugging off his jacket.

“twenty- five.” Another kiss and his shirt came off.

“Fifteen.” There was a pause.

“…I’ll give you fifteen.”

 

… Matt was waiting more than fifteen minutes.

 

After two weeks, Keith was awake again, bored as anything, and with plenty of whinging and whining, Adam had finally deemed him fit enough to have visitors. At his bedside, Lance was just happy he was okay. Keith sat up in bed, angling his pillows to cushion his upper back. Lance sat on the side of his bed and looked over him, smiling.

“How are you feeling today?” He asked, keeping the mood light.

“Yeah, I’m not bad, just itching to get out of this damn room.” Lance looked on sympathetically. He remembered the long journey in the lions getting back to Earth. Horrible and claustrophobic. Anyone would think they would be used to it, but it just sprang them back the other way. Keith never much liked being told what to do, whether it was by the Garrison, Adam or Kolivan.

“I understand, but the others are coming to see you today, that’ll be good! I already know Hunk’s bringing some of his famous secret ingredient stew, and Pidge and Allura have got the games console up and running for some epic tournaments.” Keith snorted. 

“Even better since Shiro hasn’t figured out all the motor functions on his new arm.” Lance sniggered and clicked his fingers, before reaching into his pocket for his communicator. He held it up in front of Keith’s face.

“Smile!”

 

_Snap._

Lance pulled the communicator back to look at the picture he’d just taken.

“Aww, you didn’t smile! It’s a cute picture though.” Keith reached over to take the communicator from Lance. “Don’t delete it!”

“I’m not.” Keith’s voice wasn’t biting. It was unusually soft, almost melancholic. He glanced down at the picture. As he looked at the photo, there was no doubt it was him. His hair was tied back into a ponytail, and he was dressed in one of Lance’s t-shirts and loose joggers. That wasn’t his issue… It was his eyes.

 

After his exposure to the gas, one of his eyes had returned to its normal human form, but the other had kept the glowing gold of his Galra side. A side he couldn’t hide anymore. The more Keith looked down at his picture, the deeper his frown set in. He looked unbalanced, he looked strange, he looked…

“Lance?” Lance perked up at the questioning nature of Keith’s voice. He sounded so vulnerable all of a sudden. It almost didn’t sound like him.

“What is it?” He took Keith’s hand and squeezed it in reassurance.

“My eyes…” Keith steeled himself. “Are they… ugly?” There was a stunned kind of silence. He didn’t look at Lance, and he was about to take back everything he said, but he knew he couldn’t. He couldn’t push words back into his mouth. He can wish they never came out, but he can’t take them back. He felt a thumb brushing against his cheekbone, and Keith almost shied away from it. Lance tilted Keith’s head up to look at him.

 

 

“Is Shiro’s arm ugly?” Keith furrowed his brow.

“What?” Lance asked again.

“Is Shiro’s arm ugly? What about Adam’s scars?” Keith turned away from him.

“It’s not scars that’s the issue. I have the scar on my face too, it’s just these eyes are…” Lance already knew his grievance.

“Galran?” Keith nodded. Lance then shifted so he was sat side by side with Keith on the bed. He intertwined their fingers, and Keith leaned on his shoulder.

“Let me tell you something. While we were in that wreck and you were unconscious, those kids were asking so many questions about you. Not just because they’ve never met someone from Voltron, but because they never thought one of their own was part of Voltron since Zarkon. After the whole business with the empire, you are exactly the kind of person they need, Keith. With the universe fearing the Galra, hell, that scumbag, Krill just tried to kill a bunch of kids because of who they are, they need a good guy to look up to. Don’t try and hide that Galra side of you. In times like this, seeing a kind, brave, and compassionate Galra is exactly what they need.”

 

Keith picked his head up from Lance’s shoulder, and the frown seemed to evaporate from his face into a more neutral expression.

“I’m not all that brave and compassionate. Allura, Shiro, and Pidge are braver than I am, and you and Hunk are more compassionate.” Lance squeezed his hand.

“But we’re not Voltron without you.” Keith smiled again, and Lance leaned down to kiss him gently on the lips. When they separated, Lance slipped fingers through the loose strands of Keith’s hair and kissed him deeply again.

“Thank you, gentlemen, that’ll be quite enough.” The sharp ring of Adam’s voice cut through the room, and Lance and Keith practically leapt back from each other.

“Quiznak! Adam, you almost gave me a heart attack!” Adam walked over to Keith’s side and made a note of his progress.

“You did that to yourself, and I’m not saving your life twice.” Keith flopped back on the bed.

“Spare me the dramatics, Doc.” Adam smirked as he gave Keith a playful bat upside the head.

“You know this would never have happened if you’d have eaten breakfast like I’d told you.”

 

There came a knock at the door, and when it was cracked open, Hunk peered through the doorway holding what was quite possibly the biggest pot Keith had ever seen, and Pidge held an enormous pink ‘Get Well Soon’ balloon.

“We came to see the patient!” Hunk invited himself in, and set the pot down on Keith’s bedside table.

“How are you doing, Keith?” Pidge asked, dropping the games console on the bed.

“I’ll be doing much better after I eat whatever’s in that pot.” Both Keith and Lance inhaled deeply.

“Hunk, my man, that smells amazing.” Hunk looked immensely proud of himself.

“It’s my mum’s special recipe. She always used to feed it to me when I was sick or when the All Blacks won a major game. So, seeing as you’re sick _and_ the All Black smashed the Springboks, we made our special stew. Mum sends her well wishes.”

Keith smiled,

“Geez, whenever I was sick, I’d just get a 7UP or a Powerade and that was it! Nevermind a full three course meal!” Lance exclaimed, removing the lid of the pot to take a closer look. There was another knock at the door.

“It’s open.” Pidge called. The door slid back, and Allura and Shiro stepped inside.

“Good morning, Keith! How are-“

“I swear, another person asks me how I’m feeling, I’m going to rip their head off.” Allura rolled her eyes, but the corners of her lips remained upturned.

“He’s fine.”

 

Allura went to sit on the bed next to Pidge and Hunk, who chatted back and forth with Lance about home sickness remedies. Shiro went over to Adam to kiss his forehead, and then make his way over to Keith’s side.

“Adjusting over here?” Keith punched Shiro’s artificial shoulder lightly.

“Yeah. It’s weird. I see in HD in one eye and not the other.” Shiro chuckled.

“For what it’s worth, the Blade of Marmora said they kids and their governess are recovering really well.” Keith looked content with the news.

“That’s great.” Hunk leaned over the hospital bed to pass three bowls of stew to Adam, Shiro and Keith.

“Order up! There’s seconds, thirds, fourths and fifths if you want them!” Shiro and Keith smiled to themselves.

“Kolivan also told me those kids are very eager to meet you. Now, I know you may not feel ready, but-“

“No.” Keith cut Shiro off to look back at him. “I would love to meet them, especially now I can speak Galran. I would be my privilege.” Keith could see Shiro giving him that face again. That typical Shiro ‘I’m proud you made the right decision’ face. But right now, he’d let him have it.

 

“Hunk, this stew is delicious!” Allura exclaimed. “We must save some for Coran!” Hunk waved her off.

“I think mum made enough to feed the entire Garrison, so it’s all cool. We can even save some for Krolia and Kosmo when they get back from their mission too!” Keith huffed.

“That’s not his name.” Lance groaned around his mouthful of stew.

“What? Still hasn’t told you his name, Doctor Dolittle?” Pidge sniggered and set her stew down for a moment to finish off fiddling with the wires connecting the console to the back of Keith’s small hospital television.

“Hey, you can settle your lover’s quarrel on the console, deal?” Keith and Lance glared at one another.

“I’m going to destroy you.” Lance picked up his controller, throwing down the metaphorical gauntlet. Keith, never one to back away from Lance’s challenge, picked up his.

“You wish.” Allura dished out another bowl of stew and shook her head. Some things, it seemed, never changed.

 

Adam and Shiro watched Keith and Lance play their game good naturedly, as the others shouted tips and cheats from the side lines.

“You remember when we were like them?” Shiro recalled the days of him and Adam trying to one up each other in flight simulation, written tests, anything they could compete at.

“I certainly do. Though these two are far more evenly matched than we were.” Adam leaned into Shiro, and Shiro looked down at him with a furrowed brow.

“What are you saying, that we weren’t evenly matched!?” Shiro watched Adam’s smile grow.

“Still aren’t.” He leaned in and whispered close to his ear. “Fifteen minutes? I’d say ten.” Shiro just grinned.

“Minx.”

“If you two are done being gross, it’s me versus Shiro on the next round of our epic tournament.” Keith handed the controller to Shiro, who kicked off his shoes to sit cross legged on the bed next to Keith.

“Prepare to lose tragically.” Shiro was already biting his lip in concentration, knowing deep down he wouldn’t beat Keith, but he would give it a good go.

“No way, old man.”

 

In the end, they played games for hours, taking turns to challenge the victors of the heat rounds, eventually with Pidge coming out as the overall champion, Allura as a close second. The sun had dipped well below the horizon by the time they decided to head for bed. As Keith settled down that night with a kiss goodnight from Lance, he thought long and hard about what his Galran heritage could mean for those around him. How he could inspire the next generation. How they didn’t have to become the product of war, and how they didn’t have to resent who they were… and how he didn’t have to resent who he was. He thought, if Voltron could keep hope alive in the universe, keep saving those under its protection, then how wrong could they really go?

 


End file.
